By Julie Murphree, Arizona Farm Bureau:  Since we’re mid-way through in this current school year it’s a good time to provide an update on Arizona Farm Bureau’s Ag in the Classroom (AITC) program and give a big “thank you” to those who have donated to Farm Bureau’s Educational Farming Company. We’re excited about the new year! And, as we focus on teaching through language arts, social studies, science and math, we're teaching Arizona agrculture to our students aligned with state standards. 

The Next Ag Literacy Event

Our Dr. Seuss Ag Literacy Event is just around the corner. The event is filled to capacity with 400 classrooms registered for this interactive 30-minute presentation. Depending on the grade level of the classroom, students will either experience Green Eggs and Ham while learning about chickens and pigs, experience Oh Say Can You Seed while dissecting seeds first hand, or experience Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? while learning the differences between dairy and beef cattle. There are 10 FFA Chapters that have volunteered to present and have been paired with classrooms in their local elementary school for this event. AITC is excited about this growing partnership with the FFA!

Our Coloring Book Gets a Facelift

The very popular Arizona Grown Agriculture coloring book has been revamped. New activities and facts will keep Arizona students informed about the agricultural industry. If your county would like to order copies of the new coloring book please contact Katie Aikins at katieaikins@azfb.org.

Running the Numbers

Impact numbers compared to last year at this time are down a bit. This can be attributed to us not hosting the Gilbert Days Rodeo Education Days as we have in years past. The GPC wanted to host an event at the Rodeo Park instead of the schools, which required the schools to find funding for buses. As budgets continue to tighten this was just not something the schools could provide.

Hopefully next year, we can go back to the school campus program that the schools seemed to really enjoy.

Despite the fact that we’re slightly behind compared to the past few years, we have new events and projects scheduled for spring that will still allow us to reach our goal of a 10% increase in program impact.

Thank You for All You Do!

With our latest fundraising campaign, we’ve raised more than $18,000 for Arizona Farm Bureau Educational Farming Company in just the last six weeks. While this 501 (c)(3) company provides donations to all of our agriculture youth organizations including FFA and 4-H, Arizona Farm Bureau’s AITC depends on these funds too. We want to thank everyone who donated to our youth activities; one of the most important public outreach efforts we do in order to help our Arizona families connect to our agriculture industry here in the state.

It’s not too late to donate to the Educational Farming Company. If you still want to donate send your checks written out to Arizona Farm Bureau Educational Farming Company and send them to 325 South Higley Road, Suite 210, Gilbert, Arizona 85296. You can also donate online to Arizona Farm Bureau Educational Farming Company.