The
first thing you saw when you walked on the Ag quad this Fall was orange
construction fences and mounds of dirt everywhere. We lost our beautiful quad
to the relentless hammering and never ending dump trucks. Year after year we
brought tractors, hay bales, and numerous farm animals to the quad for a fun
filled Ag Day. The Fall semester is our semester to really show the University
what agriculture is all about. Unfortunately with the Ag quad under
construction, we couldn’t find a place that would work for our normal
festivities. With some modifications to our normal activities, we were able to
put on an interactive agricultural display instead; we called it Ag
ExtravAGanza.
In place of the animals and
tractors, we had stationed ourselves in Mann Library and Willard Straight Hall
with samples of real maple syrup, maple cream, honey, and New York grown
apples. We took advantage of the resources we have within our house and hoped
to give people a nice break from studying. There were displays of beekeeping
materials, and maple syrup harvesting. We wanted to show people just how much
of an impact agriculture has. It plays a role in everything we eat but few
realize that. Our display shows the nontraditional and different aspects of
agriculture that people often overlook.
When people think of agriculture,
they think of the typical cows and corn, but we wanted to show that there is
much more to agriculture than the typical dairy or beef farm. Our own brothers
and sisters have farms that represent these different divisions of agriculture
and each were able to provide informative displays. Even though we couldn’t
have our usual displays of tractors or sheep, we were still able to convey the
importance of agriculture through Ag ExtravAGanza.
Cassidy
Fletcher ‘17