Dressed head to toe as a corn ear,
Marlene van Es ’11, welcomed the Cornell community to "Ag Day” on
Friday, April 30. A tractor, combine, cow and a couple of sheep graced the Ag
Quad in honor of the bi-annual event, which showcases university
agricultural programs and raises money for charities, like 4-H and local
farmers in need.
Hosted by Alpha Zeta, an honorary, professional society for
students and industry professionals in the agriculture and life
sciences, the event demonstrated the semester-long efforts of the
Fraternity members. Despite the exhaustive work, AZ sister Carolyn
Abbott ’10 said, "It’s worth it.”
The fraternity invited all campus agricultural clubs to display their
organization’s goals and projects. This year, Master Composters, Farms
to Cornell, Dilmun Hill Student Organic Farm, NYS Ag in the Classroom
and Friends of the Gorges attended the event.
The event showed educational displays about weeds and soil science to
educate the general public about some important agricultural issues.
Another booth at Ag Day, called Agriculture in the Classroom, featured
movements in New York education to integrate agriculture into
curriculum.
The presence of livestock too served educational purposes. Stationed
in front of the cow, an "Ask a Farmer” booth provided answers to common
cow questions. According to Jess May ’11, the craziest cow question she
received was, "Do cows sit down?” Apparently, cows do not sit, but they
do lay down.
Peter Seznek, Alpha Zeta’s chef, prepared a pulled pork barbeque meal
as well as s’more brownies to sell on the quad as well.
Dilmun Hill Student Organic Farm offered t-shirt decorating with
stencils and stamps with their logo and different vegetables. Ryan
Devlin ’13, AZ brother and Dilmun’s Market Garden Manager for this
summer said, "We want to get the word out about the farm so people can
come out to our work parties.”
"I enjoyed the enthusiasm from the agriculture community, especially
Marlene van Es dressed as a corn ear. Ag Day allows people to experience
a side of Cornell that’s not always visible,” Audrey Boochever ’13
said. Boochever is Vice President of Farm to Cornell, a group trying to
bring more local foods to campus, to increase agricultural education
throughout the university and celebrate food.
Altogether, the event drew large crowds that normally would not
experience the operations of the agricultural science community.
View pictures from Cornell's Ag Day on the Cornell AZ Website.
View the full article on The Cornell Daily Sun.