Farmer's Market

With a moo moo here...

Third graders learn exactly where their meals come from during AgVenture at the Florida State Fairgrounds.

STATE FAIRGROUNDS - Rasheed Hutchins is a typical 9-year-old, which means he loves hamburgers.

But until Tuesday, the Trapnell Elementary student didn't know all kinds of cool facts about the animals that provide his beef patties.

"Cows only have bottom teeth and stuff," Rasheed said, as he finished a round of beef bingo and noshed on miniature marshmallows, one of many cattle byproducts.

"I'm going to tell my mom a hamburger is like the cow I learned about."

That will make Hillsborough County farmers happy.

Rasheed was one of about 500 third-graders who spent Tuesday at the fairgrounds for the first day of AgVenture, an annual event that turns students into farmers for a day and promotes agriculture in Hillsborough.

About 5,000 third-graders from across the county learn how to make butter from whipped cream and candles from beeswax during AgVenture's eight-day run.

They'll learn about aquaculture and pig farming and phosphate mining. They'll go home with straw farmer hats, tiny handmade cotton looms and strawberry plants.

In the spring, 2,500 additional third-graders will go through another round of hands-on lessons.

It's all thanks to local farmers and agriculture organizations, the Hillsborough County Farm Bureau, the Florida State Fair Authority and the Hillsborough County Cooperative Extension Service.

Since 1994, they have sponsored AgVenture because they want youngsters to know that their eggs, milk and chicken fingers aren't born inside the grocery store.

While the event has reached about 45,000 children so far, there is a waiting list every year because organizers can afford to host only about half of the third-graders in the county, said Judi Whitson of the Hillsborough County Farm Bureau in Valrico.

"The only thing that's keeping us from opening this to all third-graders is money," Whitson said.

Hosting the 7,500 students this year will cost about $30,000, but organizers are looking for additional sponsors to expand AgVenture in years to come, Whitson said.

About 80 volunteers are on hand each day, guiding students through the 20-exhibit event that includes crafts and lessons from local farmers.

By the time students leave after lunch, they've eaten an agriculture product, planted something and learned about the environment.

On Tuesday, students shook up little containers of heavy whipping cream and turned it into butter, then slathered it on saltine crackers. They saw tropical fish, petted horses and learned that cows have four stomachs.

Whitson still recalls the late 80s supermarket commercial that started it all.

Where does your milk come from? the narrator asked. The grocery store!

Disturbed that the Florida chain's ad neglected to mention dairy farms and the cows that live there, the Farm Bureau in 1989 started hosting small demonstrations for about 200 students during the state fair.

"We'd tell them about cows, put them through three or four things and send them on their way," Whitson recalled. "But we felt that wasn't really getting through, so out of that grew AgVenture."

Joey Kidd, who attends Trapnell, showed off the small loom and the fish picture he made as he prepared to sit down for lunch.

"I learned that beef cows give us a lot of food," said Kidd, 8. "And do you know a catfish can breathe out of water?"

- Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 661-2443 or svansickler@sptimes.com

For more information about volunteering or donating to AgVenture, call the Hillsborough Farm Bureau at 685-9121 or send an e-mail to hcfb@tampabay.rr.com