In response to unprecedented cuts in state funding, University of Illinois Extension announced today a map of how local county Extension programs will be administered.
McHenry County Farm Bureau hosted a poster contest for elementary and middle school students to promote National Agriculture Week. This year's theme was "Celebrate Agriculture". K-8 students created a handmade poster and entered the contest. The Farm Bureau Women's Committee selected the winning posters and served ice-cream for the awards program.
This year's top poster winners are as follows:
McHenry County Farm Bureau welcomes Leah Wilkening as this year's summer intern. Wilkening's major is agriculture education with a focus on leadership; she is currently attending the University of Illinois. Leah grew up on a family farm in the Harvard area and her parents are Dennis and Laurie.
Some of you may have seen me around the McHenry County Farm Bureau office. My name is Kourtney Parks and I am training in McHenry County as part of the county manager trainee program with the Illinois Farm Bureau. I grew up on a farm in Fulton County. I graduated from Western Illinois University in December with an agribusiness degree. In January I started working at the Illinois Farm Bureau home office in Bloomington. While there I learned about all the ways the home office assists county managers and members through the different departments. After training in Bloomington for six weeks, I have trained in McDonough, Jackson, and Union counties. I've been able to see what a county manager does on a daily basis. One of the things I've been involved in while training here is Ag Expo. I had a game called "The Wheel of Ag" that the kids got to play. It was fun getting to interact with the students and teach them about agriculture. I have also helped out with several different projects in the office. Thank you for having me. I have enjoyed my time here.
McHenry County Farm Bureau holds Ag Expo every other year for third and fourth grade students. The expo was started back in 1988 and has reached a total of 40,000 students. This past year’s event drew more than 2,500 students and 110 teachers.
Students were exposed to six minute presentations from 20 different agricultural booths. The booths included: swine, Christmas trees, dairy, soil and water conservation, beef cattle, chickens, embryology, worms, historical farming practices, wind farms, corn and soybeans, fish farming, specialty crops, honey bees, horses, sheep, fiber arts, farm equipment, food safety, technology and 4-H.
Roughly 200 volunteers donated their time and talent to the four day event. Volunteers were utilized for set up, booth presenters and tour guides. The McHenry County Fair Association provided its facilities for the event. We would like to thank all of our volunteers and McHenry County Fair Association for all their assistance.
Ag Expo provides third and fourth grade students with some basic knowledge about agriculture. It helps the students connect the agricultural industry to the food and products they consume in their daily lives.
