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If you know of people or organizations that have made exceptional volunteering efforts to educate about agriculture, the Foundation wants to hear about it. Nominate them at www.agfoundation.org, under What We Support-Volunteers.
Foundation Recognizes Volunteer Edie Wright

The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture recognizes Edie Wright from Montana as an outstanding example of a volunteer educating about agriculture.

 

Edie Wright has been volunteering in Farm Bureau for over 40 years as a county board member. Edie has also served as district representative on the state Women's Committee, and on county and state committees. Today she continues to volunteer in Gallatin County by presenting the "Farm Fair" program.

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The "Farm Fair" program invites 900 4th graders a year to a farm in Gallatin Valley to learn about farmers and farm machinery. Edie focuses on Farm Safety including swimming and ATVs. During the day Edie presents model tractors and a grain wagon in demonstrations. She also uses posters showing other machinery including cultivators, augers, and combines.

 

Edie's own farm in the foothills of the Bridger Mountains has been in the family since the early 1900s. There they grow hay, legumes and several other grains, giving her an extensive knowledge of grain crops that she incorporates into her presentations during the "Farm Fair." She explains what acres are and how much grain can be produced on an acre. Edie also explains to the students how grain is processed into flour and bread, creating a farm-to-plate connection.

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The teachers incorporate the "Farm Fair" experience back into their classroom by asking the students to write correct penmanship letters of thanks to Edie and her helpers. A sample thank you letter:  

 

"Dear Ms. Wright, Thank you for coming here to tell us to be careful on the farm.  I learned not to sit on a tractor if there is no seat for you.  I learned to watch out for animals."

 

Thanks to Edie and her helpers over 900 students in the Gallatin Valley are taught each year where their food comes from, some of the challenges farmers face and how to be safe on the farm.

 

 The Foundation thanks Edie for being such an outstanding example of a volunteer educating about agriculture in her community. 

 

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