If you are anything like me, one of the highlights of being in school was the field trips you got to take. You know, those places you were able to experience along with your friends that you might never have seen if it were not for that school trip. Now fast forward to 2020/2021. Students in many areas have not stepped foot into their classrooms this year. Those field trips, not even a possibility.

Enter Arizona Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom (AITC). Recognizing that many students would be missing out on these memorable educational experiences, several of our Farm Bureau members have come to the rescue and allowed students to travel with them to their farms and ranches, virtually.  Each month, students and teachers can log on to a Live Virtual Ag Tour hosted by the AITC Program. Students can spend 50 minutes seeing and experiencing Arizona agriculture while engaging with those individuals that are #stillfarming. The best part? They can ask questions and get the answers the same as if they were there in person!  Curious as to where our Arizona students have been traveling?

  • Riverview Dairy, Cochise County
  • Arizona Queen Bee’s hives, Maricopa County
  • Mortimer Farms Pumpkins, Yavapai County
  • Cotton Fields and Gin, Maricopa and Yuma Counties
  • Arizona Desert Premium Farms Lettuce, Yuma County
  • Cattle and Cactus with Carlink Ranch, Pima County
  • Sossaman Farms, Maricopa County
  • Bayer Marana Greenhouse, Pima County
  • Arizona Game and Fish Hatchery, Yavapai County

The tours have been a big hit. Our most attended tour to date had 750+ students in attendance and another 931 views of the tour recording once it was posted online. That is the potential to have reached over 24,000 students, considering that most views are by a classroom full of students. That is more than we could ever imagine getting out to the farm in person. And, we make the tours available for later viewing on our website too. 

To our farmers and ranchers, if you are interested in allowing AITC to offer your farm or ranch as a virtual tour, please contact us at aitc@azfb.org. Be on the lookout for our remaining tours!