UVM Extension 4-H staff welcomed over 200 sixth-graders to two working Vermont dairy farms in mid-May, 2023, exposing students to careers and professionals working within the food system.
Students from Essex, Braintree, Newbury, Williamstown and Stowe middle schools visited either Fairmont Farm in East Montpelier or the North Williston Cattle Company, where they rotated through stations and participated in hands-on activities related to topics such as agronomy, nutrition, finance technology, governmental regulations and more. Staff from 4-H including Martha Manning, Martha Seifert, Melinda Birch, Wendy Sorrell, and Allison Smith were on hand to support the students’ learning.
Teachers attending also received a copy of a new dairy curriculum created by this team, that allows for extending this opportunity into the classroom and diving deeper into the different topics. Asked what the students got out of the experience, one teacher replied, “They gained lots of information about how farms are run and an appreciation for the work it takes to keep a farm going. They also learned that there are so many different avenues for careers in farming that they did not know existed.”