The Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation has announced its Ag Literacy Grant winners for 2023

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - St. James High School’s Future Farmers of America club plans on having an ag themed carnival, all in hopes of educating the younger generation. Becky Cronk the FFA advisor says that its all in the student’s hands.

“Well, it’s where we get all of our food and it’s like McDonald’s is part of ag. So kids need to know that. Whatever they do is basically in the ag department,” said St. James junior, Taryn Helling.

St. James High School’s Future Farmers of America club plans on having an ag themed carnival, all in hopes of educating the younger generation. Becky Cronk, the FFA advisor, says that its all in the student’s hands.

“It was something that the students actually found and applied for and they’ll be planning the whole carnival which is really cool to see them take the initiative and do the whole process,” said Cronk.

With a focus on Ag Literacy, they hope to give greater insight into where food comes from.

“There’s a bit of a disconnect about where food actually comes from because not the grocery store. So being able to teach kids that there’s farmers and how they produce [food] and all of the processes that go into that is really important,” said Cronk.

“I hope they take it and realize that they don’t just go to the grocery store to get their food and that people put hard work into getting their food from the field to the table,” said Helling.

Now that they have the funding, the FFA has the ability to give the best carnival they can.

“I think that a carnival gives it more spin, especially since we’re gonna have like different tables with different like games and activities. That’s what a carnival is. We’re hoping to do like a fishing game to help teach them about like the fish since we have a lot of lakes nearby,” said St. James junior, Mykela Hanson.

They don’t have a set date yet, but plan on the carnival happening in early spring at Northside Elementary School.

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