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boy with lamb
A boy learns about lambs at Family Farm Day
Do You Know an Outstanding Volunteer or Volunteering Program?
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.

 

Wisconsin Volunteer Rochelle Ripp named Volunteer of the Month  

 

Rochelle Ripp has a passion for promoting agriculture. As the Dane County Farm Bureau (Wisc.) ag promotions coordinator, Rochelle planned an event called Family Farm Day. The purpose of Family Farm Day was to build a connection between urban and rural community members and to share and teach about the impact of Wisconsin's diverse agriculture industry. Dane County Farm Bureau put a face on the industry in a friendly environment for engaging conversations regarding our animals, plants and products.

girls with pigs 
Young people learned about agriculture at Family Farm Day at the Madison Children's Museum.

The Ag Promotions Committee, formerly the Women's Committee, teamed up with the Madison Children's Museum on April 16th, to host the event where urban families could participate in various stations to learn about animals, plants and their byproducts. Food commodity stations were set up for visitors to learn firsthand from producers and young people were encouraged to pet animals and pot plants.




butter making 
Volunteers helped attendees make butter.
Learning stations included physical activities with dairy re-fueling snacks; planting and caring for edamame seedlings; uses of soybeans and soybean oil complete with soy crayon making demonstrations; and tasting ingredients in homemade trail mix using Wisconsin-grown commodities like cranberries. Young people also had the chance to see baby animals at the dairy, swine, goat, duck and chicken stations. In addition to the learning stations, biodegradable corn bags were distributed with fun, informational pamphlets on Wisconsin and Dane County's Farm Bureau and other agriculture initiatives like Farmers Feed US. Feedback from attendees was gathered to improve future events that build a connection between urban and rural community members.


The Foundation congratulates Rochelle and the Dane County Farm Bureau for continuing to educate suburban audiences and consumers about where food, fuel and fiber originate.