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Summer Ag Institute
Provides Hands-On Lessons
The next seminar will be held July 11-15, 2005
Click here
for more about this year's seminar
By Tad Duncan
TFB Research, Education and Policy Development
Forty-five
teachers from all over the state traveled to Stephenville to attend one of
two, week-long sessions of the Summer Agricultural Institute sponsored by
Texas Farm Bureau and hosted by Tarleton State University.
Twenty-eight county Farm Bureaus provided scholarships to send teachers from their county to the Institute. Some counties, such as Grimes, Milam and Matagorda, sent more than one teacher. A total of five teachers attended from McLennan County.
Participants arrived from as far north as Amarillo and Hereford in the Panhandle, and as far south as Edinburg in the Rio Grande Valley.
Each session was filled with activities, field trips, and workshops that emphasized agriculture and how to integrate it into the classroom curriculum.
A trip to Birdsong Peanuts in Gorman showed how peanuts are graded, classified and prepared for shipment all over the world for use in products such as peanut butter and various kinds of candies. Issues dealing with the environment, such as soil and water conservation and waste management were addressed. Using the Natural Resource Conservation Service's Rainfall Simulator, participants were able to see how ground cover reduces soil erosion and keeps water cleaner than if it runs off bare soil. They also conducted a range inventory to determine the condition of a range site and then calculated its recommended stocking rate. They toured a dairy and saw how waste materials are handled using a vibrating screen to separate the solids, then using the remaining liquid to fertilize and water the farm's hay fields.
Music
was included when Beverly Bruns from Victoria conducted a workshop showing
teachers how to integrate agricultural lyrics into well-known children's tunes.
Joanne Witschorke from Marion in Guadalupe County and Gayle Lovvorn from Stamford
in Jones County gave ideas on how they integrate agriculture into their classrooms.
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The
2005
TFB Summer
Agricultural Institute
will be held July 11-15
Please
send your comments and suggestions for the
Texas Farm Bureau website to:
Vernie
Glasson, Executive Director
Gene
Hall, Publisher
Linda Andrews,
Webmaster
Texas
Farm Bureau | P.O. Box 2689
Waco, Texas 76702-2689 | 254-772-3030
Cindy
Wennin, Sr. Graphic Designer
12/5/2008
