Third graders learn about Idaho’s agriculture industry

RIGBY, Idaho (KIFI) - More than 40 high school students in Rigby's Future Farmers of America organization are helping third graders understand where their food comes from and how it is prepared. 

So far Wednesday morning, more than 90 students went through the event at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds with another 200 planning to attend Wednesday afternoon.

The FFA students have worked with industry leaders to prepare 10 different stations for the third graders to go to. They shared with me how these leaders reacted to the opportunity to educate young students about their jobs.

"They're excited that I'm getting information out there. So that our younger crowd around us knows what's going on, and so that they can be acknowledged about what was in their environment," Rigby FFA member Kendyl McNeil said.

I also learned more about the stations the third graders went to.

"The different stations are learning about byproducts of the animals with the equipment, and how to safely use them with science, learning about the different ways to keep your animals healthy. And then we have fish and wildlife learning about different wildlife and those. And then we have our dairy learning about all the different things we get from our dairy animals and then the GMOs," Rigby FFA member Kallie Smith said.

Learning about the farm and the animals that can be found on it stood out to a lot of the third graders.

"My favorite part is the day I was on the range and learning about how all the other animals do things, and learning what animals live on the range," third grader Ephram said.

"I got to learn about, different animals," third grader Mylee said.

"We got to learn about, different kinds of animals," third grader Kaylee said.

Others mentioned other booth standouts.

I think my favorite one was probably learning about the safety because we learned about, like, the tractor and, like, what to do with it. And they told us we're not to put our hand in the, the power cell because it will make your hand go, like, really fast and take it off," third grader Shaxton said.

"I got to learn about how the water cycle works," third grader Aliyah said.

One of the Third-grade teachers shared the impact this will have don't the different students.

"It's a great opportunity for them to learn even more about, what goes on in their community, how our community thrives. and everything like that with it," Terreton Elementary third grade teacher Emilee Allen said.

Another member of the Rigby FFA said that living in the rural county of Jefferson can help some of the students have a basic understanding of what they were learning at the County Fairgrounds, but others have a bit more to learn.

"A lot of our students, especially those from Woodlake, know that, and they know all about it. But some of our more, urban schools such as Cottonwood and Harwood, don't know what it's like to live on that farm or ranch life. And they don't always understand exactly what it takes to put all that work into it," Rigby FFA member Kayda Hickman said.

The event will also continue into Thursday so students who couldn't come Wednesday will be here then.