Manatee County Fair brings agriculture education to life for schoolchildren

MANATEE -- For students enrolled in agriculture education programs in Manatee County schools, the annual fair is a chance for them to strut their stuff, showing what they've been learning and working on for the school year so far.

On Monday, students competing in different plant and livestock events began checking in their fair entries, making the final preparations for the "Fair of the Century," where organizers are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first Manatee County Fair.

But for the 1,812 students enrolled in ag education courses between eight Manatee County schools, the fair is only a small -- but important -- part of their classroom education.

"That's just one piece," said Deb Barry, the agriculture department head at Braden River High School. "Not every student has a fair project, but the kids do love the fair. They get to be in the arena, they get to be with their friends."

In the schools

Not every Manatee County school can host a agriculture program, mostly because the programs require a decent amount of land, said Kelli Kennedy, a career and technical education curriculum specialist for the district, who helps coordinate the ag programs between the schools. Elementary teachers will often integrate agriculture education into their science curriculum and the ag programs begin in earnest in middle school as elective courses.

At the middle school level, students can enroll in fair programs at Haile Middle, Buffalo Creek Middle, Lincoln Middle and Nolan Middle. Those students often feed up into high school programs that also offer ag programs. In Manatee County, those high schools are Lakewood Ranch High, Southeast High, Palmetto High and Braden River High. Based on the number of enrolled students, Braden River High measures one of the largest ag programs in the state, according to district officials.

Students can also join their schools' FFA chapters, volunteer after-school activities tied to ag education, but separate from the courses offered in the classroom.

Ag education proponents, like Barry, think it should be that way. Barry thinks ag education courses should be a requirement, to help students become better educated consumers, even if they don't head down an agriculture career path.

"All of us eat," she said.

Students are offered a variety of different agriculture classes at the schools, starting with broader basics and working up to more narrowly focused courses. All of Barry's students are assigned either a plant or livestock project, and that may include raising an animal or plant to compete in the fair, but can also include research projects or career-based projects for students.

In the agriculture business, a small percentage of people are actually farmers, with the rest of the industry working in areas like marketing and post-production. For Barry, that means students need a variety of skills.

Students will learn how to read, write and speak, so they can market and sell their product. They keep a record book to monitor the money spent on their project and what it would need to sell for to break even. Students also use math when figuring how much to feed and water their plant or animal to keep it alive and healthy.

With advances in technology, the ag business has changed, and Kennedy said she thinks that's part of why the programs in Manatee County have stayed popular.

"As much as people see the practical application as 'cows, plows and sows,' there's so much technology in ag these days," she said. "It's not vocational education of 30 or 40 years ago. It's really completely different."

School board member Bob Gause, who also serves as a non-voting member on the Manatee River Fair Association board, called the agriculture industry dynamic and said the FFA and ag education programs help create well-rounded students.

"Do we really still need to have kids raising cows and pigs? The importance of the FFA program in developing the whole student is still very much valid."

At the fair

The ag education programs and the fair create a very symbiotic relationship, Gause said. The family friendly event benefits from having all the students and their friends there, competing or otherwise, and the fair provides an easy showcase for students to live out their projects.

"I love the fair, the fair's a wonderful thing," Gause said "The over-arching thing you have to recognize is the sense, the self-confidence, the skills that is gives these young people."

The fair gives students an easy outlet to gain those skills. Savana Bunting, a 14-year-old eighth-grade student at Buffalo Creek Middle School, is preparing to show a hog this year, her third year in a row. She's just one of many Manatee students preparing for competition. Throughout the process, Savana said she has learned a lot, and she really likes the adrenaline rush that goes with competing.

"I like meeting new people and just being able to take part of something special," she said.

Students who sell at the fair have to cover the costs of their plant or animal, but keep the proceeds. Often, students will use their earnings to start preparing for the upcoming year. FFA chapters in the schools often raise a fair animal together, and use the proceeds from the sale to help fund chapter activities and competitions.

The community always turns out to help, Kennedy said, and chapter animals can often sell at higher than market values, since buyers -- who may be intimately associated with the agriculture industry or not -- know the money will help the activities of the chapter.

"The whole education piece of it is huge for just the general public. From our perspective, as much as the fair is an outlet or a venue for our FFA programs and our ag programs to interact with the community it's also I think a learning opportunity for the community," Kennedy said. "Agriculture is one of the major industries. The fair is a great way to kind of highlight that and bring attention to something that's a part of our everyday life and it's not something we're involved in on aday to day basis."

Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter@MeghinDelaney.

--County reporter Claire Aronson contributed to this report.

This story was originally published January 11, 2016 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Manatee County Fair brings agriculture education to life for schoolchildren ."