Mobile ag lab now booking visits to elementary schools

Delaware Farm Bureau Foundation is now scheduling visits from its Mobile Agriculture Lab to third- and fourth-grade classrooms for the 2019-20 school year. Kali Voshell, new DFB program and foundation coordinator, is looking forward to working with teachers and students across the state.

“The Ag Lab is a traveling classroom that serves to educate young people about farming and agriculture. It is a fun, educational tool that allows kids to see the different aspects of agriculture and try it out for themselves,” Voshell said.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Longwood Foundation, the Ag Lab has been equipped with heat, air conditioning and a generator which have extended use of the Ag Lab for several more months of the year. Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit also has made two generous donations to the FBF Foundation earmarked for the Ag Lab.

The Mobile Ag Lab began as a trailer donated by the Delaware Department of Agriculture which was converted for use as a mobile classroom before hitting the road in June 2014. The farm bureau foundation purchased a truck to pull the 26-foot trailer. As of last year, the Ag Lab had reached more than 10,000 students at schools and summer programs, in addition to thousands more children at events such as the Delaware State Fair.

Voshell said, “During our presentation, we talk about careers in agriculture, how food gets from the farm to their table, the five food groups and the importance of healthy eating, and how farming successes and failures affect the economy. Students get to feel the different types of soil we have in Delaware, and get to plant a seed in a cup to take home to see what it is like to grow their own food.”