Ag partnership

Jay County Farm Bureau was looking for new ways to reach local youth.

Jay County Public Library is always seeking options to expand its programming.

Their partnership has grown from an initial event to a full schedule of annual offerings that provide children with education about agriculture.

The partnership launched in 2020. With Farm Bureau’s Ag in the Classroom and school cooking clubs shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a need to find other ways to reach children.

“I’ve lived in Jay County all my life and I love everything about Jay County and ag,” said Farm Bureau’s Jenny Wagner, who coordinates programming with the library. “And so I wanted to get it out there.”

She pointed out that some children think food just comes from the grocery store.

“I wanted them to learn that farmers are out there and we are taking care of the ground and we’re preserving things and we’re growing things for them,” she added. “We’re trying to do all this by having a smaller blueprint ... We’re trying to learn better practices for farming.

“And we also wanted to show those kids, ‘Hey, you can grow some of your own food in your own backyard.’”

The library was a natural partner with the focuses of children and education.

“We wanted to do more programs for kids and we like to do a lot of hands-on activities for kids,” said children’s service librarian Shana Neuenschwander. “That really fits well with the agriculture mission.

“It fits well with what we want to do to reach families, help them learn and grow together as a family. Most of what we is family oriented.”

The first event Farm Bureau and the library held together was focused on sunflowers. Since then, the partnership has grown to a series of 15 to 20 events throughout the year.

Offerings are on a wide spectrum, and include:

•Cookies and canvas events that involved painting along with an agriculture lesson

•A Thanksgiving dinner for which children made their own butter, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie

•Family Fall Night featuring education about pumpkins and apples along with crafts and a variety of activities.

•A strawberry-themed event — it was based on Farm Bureau’s book of the year “I Love Strawberries” — with author Shannon Anderson visiting to read and sign books

"Whatever programming they come up with, I always try to figure out, 'Is there a way that ag can fit in there?'" said Wagner.

The library and Farm Bureau have also teamed with Purdue Extension and Jay County 4-H to create the Books in the Barn program, which has become an annual offering at the Jay County Fair. Held in the gazebo on the fairgrounds during fair week, it involves reading a book, crafts and learning about the animals at the fair. The event has grown from 10 to 15 children to more than 200 attending in 2024. (Farm Bureau representatives from other counties have visited to see how they can duplicate the event.)

Why it is important for children in Jay County to learn about agriculture, Wagner comes armed with statistics.

Jay County:

•Totals more than 800 farms, 127 of which are more than 100 years old.

•Ranks No. 1 among Indiana’s 92 counties for market value of agriculture products sold at nearly $603 million per year.

•Leads the state in market value of livestock, poultry and products at $441.3 million per year.

•Is among the top 10 in the state for production of poultry and eggs (No. 2), hogs and pigs (No. 2) and cattle and calves (No. 8).

•Has nearly 160,000 of its 245,824 acres planted in soybeans and corn.

"Since our county is such a high agriculture area, I think that they should know what each and every person is doing here,” Wagner said. “When they see them out in the field, what are they doing? What are they creating? I think that's very important. …

"I think it's just really important to know what's going on in your backyard.”

Adult and teen services, marketing and outreach librarian Hannah Elliott is hoping to expand agriculture education through the library to adults as well.

Some of those efforts are already underway. A pop-up food pantry started in 2023, serving 100 families the first year and 200 last year. It will grow again as it is planned for July 31.

The library is also launching a seed library on April 14 that will allow Jay County residents to pick up seed packets to take home and plant in their gardens. The effort involves working with Purdue Extension on a “grow a row” program to encourage gardeners to donate food from a row of their garden to a local food pantry. (The library will be a partnership site for dropping off the produce.)

Upcoming ag-related offerings at the library include Ag Week take and makes available beginning Monday. Farm Bureau will also partner to provide education about dairy cows during Mission Expl-OREO-ation — it will also include taste-testing Oreo cookies, writing Oreo poetry, crafts and an Oreo gaming center — from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“How to Grow a Carrot Cake,” during which participants will learn about growing carrots and take part in other carrot-themed activities, is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. April 10. A similar event about growing tomatoes and peppers for salsa is slated for later this spring.

And Wagner, Neuenschwander and Elliott have talked about options for other events in the future, always with a focus of reaching more members of the community.

"I just think our partnership has allowed us to do a lot more here at this library,” said Neuenschwander. “It's just been such a blessing."