Posted by dreynold on January 28, 2009 | RSS Feed
Lauderdale County Observes Farm-City Week
Lauderdale County observed Farm-City Week Nov. 24 in Florence at the Alabama Cooperative Extension System Lauderdale County office and barn. Farm-City programs try to educate the public about the link between farm and city. Farmers have an economic impact and they provide us with a dependable food supply, clothing and fibers, lumber and many household items. Banks, co-ops, suppliers, truckers, factories and stores (usually in the cities) process and deliver goods to individuals. All these businesses create jobs.
Somer Behel, a 4-H agent assistant with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, helped organize Farm-City Week 4-H events. Each 4-H club set up an educational booth that included handouts. The Shoals Purple Martin Club provided an educational booth on how to raise purple martins as a means to control insects. The Alabama Jr. Cattlemen Cattlemen’s Association and the Lauderdale County Lamb and Goat Club members showed several of their animals.
The highlight of Lauderdale County’s celebration was the opportunity for 29 children and their parents and guardians to get up close to the animals and ask questions. The area rabbit and horse clubs had educational booths, and there was also an educational crop display that let people see and touch hay forage, corn, soybeans and cotton. The cotton exhibit showed the whole development process from the plant to fiber.
The 42 youth who participated in the annual Farm-City poster and essay contests were recognized and the winners were presented awards. Madison Wilbanks and Macy Delano won the poster contest categories. Cody Wilbanks, the 2008 essay winner, presented his essay to the group.
The 2008 theme, “Pathways to Progress,” focused on how the nation’s urban cities and farm communities continue to work together to move the nation forward. Behel stated, “People living in the cities and on the farms are all together in one world and one environment. One cannot exist without the other.”
Farming has always been connected with scientific and technological advances. This will always be true. The future of farming and agriculture is connected to the biofuel industry as Agricultural research develops ways for America to become less dependent on foreign oil.
Source: Randall Armstrong, County Extension Coordinator, Lauderdale County
