March 11, 2015
www.gfb.org
Vol. 33 No. 10
GFB CONFERENCE GIVES MEMBERS NEW AG PROMOTION TOOLS The almost 300 Georgia volunteers and staff members who attended the organization’s annual Educational Leadership Conference held at Stone Mountain March 6-7 gained skills to take their ag promotion efforts to new heights. Madison County Farm Bureau member Trisha Lastly, the 2014 GFB Young Farmer Excellence in Agriculture winner, delivered the keynote speech at the opening session. Lastly shared the presentation she gave at the American Farm Bureau Convention in January while representing Georgia in the national competition. Lastly, who grew up on a row crop farm in Tift County and has taught agriculture for almost nine years, shared her passion for inspiring the next generation of farmers and agribusiness leaders. She shared her motto for her hands-on teaching method, which is “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I’ll remember. Involve me and I’ll understand.” Lastly pairs her students with local Farm Bureau members to let the students learn about production agriculture. Carmen Power, the 2014 GFB Georgia Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award recipient, shared activities she uses in her class to teach her fourth and fifth-grade students about agriculture. Power discussed how she uses the book “Tops & Bottoms” by Janet Stevens to teach her students the types of produce that grow above and below ground. She brings types ofvarious produce into the classroom for the students to sample. Power uses agriculture to teach her students the scientific method by answering the question “Can you use part of a plant to grow a new plant?” Her classes conduct an experiment by rooting the appropriate part of various vegetables that will propagate and then record their observations as the cutting develops roots and grows into a plant. She also has her students plant seeds of the same vegetable to observe how the plant grows from a seed. Chris Fleming, Ag in the Classroom coordinator for Tennessee Farm Bureau, discussed how farmers can use technology such as FaceTime available on iPhones and iPads or Skype to give students a virtual tour of their farm and teach how they grow their crops. Fleming said these are more affordable options than mobile classroom labs used by some state Farm Bureaus that cost as much as $100,000 for the lab and an additional $100,000 for its annual upkeep. Elbert County Farm Bureau Director Mandy Williams, who is an avid photographer, shared -continued