Ag In The Classroom Continues On A Mostly Virtual Stage

Mike Jackson virtually hosts an elementary class room to his swine facility as part of ‘Ag in the Classroom.’ (photo provided)

Oskaloosa, Iowa – It’s the same ol’ story for the past year about how COVID-19 has changed the way we live, play, and learn.

For local elementary students, the past year has been very different than years prior, and one of those are opportunities to leave the confines of a classroom and explore something new.

‘Ag In The Classroom’ was one of those opportunities for students to explore the world around them and learn more about how the food they eat is grown.

Karen Adams has been leading the program and has helped it continue into the virtual world, learning the in’s and out’s of virtual meetings.

Those lessons often create more work for the teachers, and Adams is no different in creating a lesson so that students can learn about modern agriculture.

Another casualty to the global pandemic has been the annual Ag Day, where area grade school students traveled to a nearby farm, or most recently the Southern Iowa Fairgrounds, where they got up-close access to the animals and crops found on area farms.

As the vaccine becomes more commonplace, schools have begun to open the doors now to some visitors. Since then, Adams has had the opportunity to visit a couple of classrooms, and Adams hopes that there will be more opportunities to bring ag back into the classroom by this fall.

Those virtual meetings often include a guest and local farmer; Mike Jackson has often been the individual that helps bring the sights and sounds of a local farm to students.

Jackson hasn’t only spoken with local students; he’s brought Iowa agriculture virtually to Alaska and Florida students.

Jackson has been able to help demonstrate that technology is part of farming today. “Technology has made farming not only profitable but more user friendly.”

Things like auto-steer on the tractor to controlling overspray during the application of products to the field are examples of that technology in use today.

The virtual technology and bringing ag into the classroom has allowed Jackson to take students into the cab of his tractor while he planted crops, to showing how a modern swine facility operates today.

Jackson is the sixth generation to farm, and the house he and his young family call home was built in 1890; and he also serves the farming community through his work with Mahaska County Farm Bureau.