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Agriland offers hands-on opportunities to learn about agriculture

Published Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 05:04 AM

OPEKA -- Agriland, the anchor of the Pride of Kansas building at the Kansas State Fair,

engages the senses and stimulates the minds of children and adults alike with its interactive

activities that teach the importance of Kansas agriculture.

Agriland is also where teachers can sign up to win one of five classroom presentations that

will focus on teaching students where their food comes from. The presentations will be

provided by the Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom, and they come

with lunch for an entire classroom. To be eligible to register for one of the five giveaway

presentations, teachers must visit Agriland at the fair with their class.

Presentation expenses will be covered by the organizations who join forces to bring Agriland

to the fair each year.

Agriland is easy to find in the Price of Kansas building. Just follow the moos of a life-sized

milking cow, a newer addition to the hands-on display.

The 6-foot-tall milking cow is an interactive educational tool that allows children and adults alike

the opportunity to learn the art of milking. It has a motion-activated sound card that produces

moo-ing when anyone walks by. It also has a self-contained pump to circulate fluid that can

be milked from the udder into an authentic stainless steel milking pail.

Another one of the newer elements is the My Pyramid display to help children and their

parents learn more about the food guidance system developed by the United States

Department of Agriculture. My Pyramid is the symbol USDA designed to represent the

system that provides many options to help Americans make healthy food choices and to

be active every day.

Agriland also features a soil tunnel that lets children explore what's below the plants, trees

and crops that cover the Kansas landscape. The three-dimensional tool illustrates how

important soil is to plant growth, waste recycling and water purification, and as habitat for

organisms.

Other returning features include the "bright and shining faces" sunflower cutout display where

children can poke their faces through openings to become "shining faces" among the large,

yellow blooms.

At a computer kiosk, children can play an interactive game that teaches about careers in

agriculture. There's also a large wheel that can be spun to learn more about all aspects of

the Kansas beef industry.

In the byproducts section, visitors can play the "Did you know?!" interactive game to learn

how livestock and crops are used in thousands of products from toothpaste to crayons,

shoes and fuel. Children and adults will learn about livestock -- how they are raised and

what they eat – and they may even pose for a photograph with wood cutouts of a steer,

sheep and hog. A stop at the scales will tell you if you weigh as much as a bushel of

corn or a baby calf.

Kids can look at Kansas grains displayed in a kid-sized grain elevator, or dig into kid-sized

vats filled with grain if they want to know what it feels like. The ever-popular ride in a John

Deere combine cab shows how Kansas crops are harvested in the field. Teachers can make

a stop in the teacher resource center to see what materials are available to help them teach

about Kansas agriculture.

A huge implement tire serves as a centerpiece to the environmental stewardship area, where

visitors learn how farmers care for their livestock and crops, and how they work to keep the

land, air and water clean.

Another feature is a section of carpet that lies underneath Agriland. It was donated by

Universal Textile Technologies of Dalton, Georgia. The carpet has a flexible foam backing

made from SoyOyl, a soy-based polyol developed with funding from the soybean checkoff.

It is estimated that 47 million bushels of beans would be used if soybean oil was used for all

U.S. commercial carpets.

Volunteers from the cooperating commodity groups will staff Agriland each day of the fair.

Cooperators include the Kansas Department of Agriculture; Kansas Beef Council; Kansas

Corn Growers Association and Commission; Kansas Dairy Association; Kansas Wheat;

Kansas Grain Sorghum Producers Association and Commission; Kansas Soybean

Association and Commission; Kansas Sunflower Commission; and the Kansas Foundation

for Agriculture in the Classroom. Kansas FFA chapters also help with Agriland.

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