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(A small gallery of photos follows the story below. Photos submitted by Deborra Horowitz.)

The annual Farm Day event, hosted by the Chowan Basin Soil and Water Conservation District, was held at Oak Level Farms in Sussex County on March 27 and continued to offer both learning and service opportunities for Southampton County Public Schools (SCPS) students.

A school division news release noted that Farm Day provided SCPS elementary students, as well as students from other area school divisions, with an interactive, hands-on experience to learn about agriculture and conservation. The event, held in collaboration with partner agencies, aimed to educate students on the journey of food from farm to table and the importance of soil and water conservation.

Jennifer Coker, conservation education technician for the district, emphasized the significance of Farm Day in helping students understand the role agriculture plays in their daily lives. 

“Many children don’t realize where their food and other essential products come from,” she said. “Farm Day gives them a firsthand look at how vital farming is to our everyday life.”

Southampton Middle and High School FFA (Future Farmers of America) members played a crucial role in the event by hosting stations and serving as role models for younger students. 

“We are very fortunate to have the FFA members from Southampton County Public Schools’ middle and high schools,” Coker said. “They not only host stations but also show younger students what they can look forward to and demonstrate the importance of conservation in all aspects.”

Deborra Horowitz is the horticulture educator at Southampton Middle School (SMS) and Southampton High School (SHS) who also serves as the FFA adviser at both schools, and she noted that several years ago, she learned that Coker needed volunteers for Farm Day.

“So I checked with the FFA members, and part of what their whole purpose is is community service,” Horowitz said. “And we started doing just volunteering and being tour guides, and then last year I started teaching a forestry class for college credit, and I made one of the assignments that they set up their own stations. And they did an absolutely fantastic job, and we were invited to do it again this year, in addition to helping take the younger students from place to place and set things up and clean up.”

She credited the middle and high school students for coming up with great ideas for stations too.

“They had to make it so that a second grader could understand it,” she said. “And then they like to do something that (the students) can actually take away with them.”

At one station, the FFA members showed young students what different grains look like and what they are used for. At another station, they taught students about germination and sent them home with a “living necklace” to grow a soybean seed.

The SCPS news release noted that through engaging activities, SMS and SHS students demonstrated the impact of agriculture and conservation efforts. 

Horowitz said there were 55 FFA members from SMS and SHS volunteering at Farm Day this year, helping serve more than 300 elementary school students in attendance.

“It was a great experience,” Horowitz said. “(The volunteers) worked together as a group and pitched in to help do anything that they were asked to do. Just a wonderful community service opportunity.”

The SCPS news release stated that Farm Day featured a variety of educational stations led by experts from organizations such as Virginia Cooperative Extension, the Virginia Department of Forestry and local farmers. Students learned about soil conservation, water quality, wildlife and the different crops essential to agriculture, including corn, wheat, soybeans and cotton.

“You can’t just go to a grocery store and pick up everything; it comes from the ground, from the soil,” Coker stated. “It’s important to bridge that gap and show them where their food and everyday items originate.”

Farm Day also included interactive exhibits with real farming equipment and demonstrations on sustainable farming practices. 

Lunch was provided for the volunteers, middle school students and high school students. Each participating elementary school student and teacher received a goodie bag filled with coloring books, pencils and educational resources, reinforcing the day’s lessons and encouraging continued learning.

“Farm Day was filled with exploration and education,” SCPS officials added in the release. “Everyone who attended now has a greater appreciation for the food they eat.”