Farm Camp provides students with unique opportunities through a three part immersive agriculture experience customized experience. Students from East Grand Forks had the chance to participate in their second year of Ag Day 2.0 with an agriculture career exploration focus.
East Grand Forks Spring Ag Day 2.0
On Monday April 29, 2024, 165 ninth grade students loaded up buses from East Grand Forks to Heritage Village where they attended Ag Day 2.0. The day was spent at seven different stations representing different career fields in agriculture: plant systems by University of Minnesota Crookston Natural Resources Department; environmental systems station by the West Polk Soil and Water Conservation District; animal systems, agribusiness systems and biotechnology stations by Northland Community and Technical College; power, structural and technical systems station by RDO Equipment Co.; and the food products and processing system station by American Crystal Sugar Co.
Before starting their day, only 35.6% could confidently name five agricultural careers (other than farmers) in the world. With this figure in mind, the Farm Camp Minnesota experience began for these students.
What is Ag Day 2.0?
It’s a day dedicated to educating students from the East Grand Forks area about the variety of careers that are available in the agriculture industry. Many students do not realize there is truly a place for everyone. As a result of Ag Day 2.0, students can physically see the vast difference in agriculture career opportunities and connect with people in those careers.
Prior to Ag Day 2.0, students participate in lesson plans provided by Farm Camp Minnesota to educators prior to the event to provide baseline knowledge of what students will learn during their hands-on experience.
Links to lesson plans that are pertinent to the day are provided about 2 weeks before. A pre and post survey is also sent to provide insight into what students learned during their hands-on experiences at Ag Day 2.0.
Not only does a day like this one expose and introduce students to new career opportunities, but it also plants a seed in the formative minds of our next workforce. I feel that students have a greater relationship with our community as they understand the relationship agriculture has in essentially everything.
Ag Host
Wave Academy Coordinator
East Grand Forks Ag 2.0 Wrap Up
Farm Camps experiences provide students with in-classroom learning, hands-on experiences and finish with career connections. Educators were provided with career exploration activities for the students to complete. As a result of this experience, of the 165 students, 94.8% can name five agricultural careers in the world (other than farmers) compared to a mere 35.6% beforehand. These experiences truly shine a light on how Farm Camps provide opportunities to increase ag literacy in students!
Special Thanks!
Events like the Ag Day 2.0 take a committee committed to student development to make this happen. Thank you to each and everyone of those agriculture committee members for helping bring this event to fruition for year two! We are also beyond grateful for sponsors and donors who helped remove the transportation barriers for this event. Thanks to a Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom Transportation Grant, transportation cost to Heritage Village was covered! This experience was also made possible through the coordination of Farm Camp Minnesota.