Students Learn about Where Food Comes From
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Students attend the Farm Expo to learn, "Where does food come from?" February 21, 2018 (Brian Gailey)
Klamath Falls, Ore. – When you are at the supermarket do you know where your food put in your cart comes from? That box of cereal. Package of hamburger. Frozen chicken dinner. Milk. Bread. Cheese. Where does it all come from?
Today [2/21/18] The Klamath County Fairgrounds Event Center played host to the annual Farm Expo. The Farm Expo was created to give children access and information to Klamath Basin agriculture but more importantly, educate where the food they consume daily comes from.
Students rotated around the Event Center to seventeen stations to learn about the origins of the food they eat every day. Some of the stations included short demonstrations and talks about Potatoes, seed, irrigation, hogs, sheep, dairy, cattle, and others. Some stations like; equestrian, 4-H, hay, and forestry were included to show where some of the tools and feed come from to manage farms and ranches.
“Our mission is to educate our community beginning with our youth that across our great county, farmers and ranchers work each day to produce the food you and your family enjoy. To us, farming is much more than our chosen profession. It is a commitment to providing you with safe, nutritious and affordable food, caring for our animals, our land and giving back to our community.”
This statement was displayed at the Farm Expo in front of a table setting for 155 people. The amount of people each American Farmer approximately feeds annually.
Did you know?
- Each American Farmer feed approximately 155 people worldwide.
- One acre of yields 5,000lbs of wheat, which equates to 83 bushels/acre. For every bushel makes 70 loaves of bread. Which in turn can feed 44 people per year. The average person will consume 132lbs of wheat per year.
- One dairy cow yields 6 gallons of milk per day, which equates to 20,000 pints per of milk per year. Therefore one dairy cow can produce 40,000 half-pint servings of milk to be served at school lunches each year.
- Special potatoes, known as “chip potatoes” are grown here in the Klamath Basin for Frito-Lay; and It takes 6.25 gallons of water to produce one snack size bag of Lay’s Potato Chips.
- Mint is grown on several farms within the Klamath Basin. Leaves from the mint can be found in tea and extracts can be found in gum and toothpaste.
Among the stations was one from the Klamath Water Users Association. They spoke on the behalf of how important irrigation water is to agriculture. They educated students on the correlation of just how much water it takes to produce the items we use every day. For example, it takes approximately 632.25 gallons of water to produce the ingredients for one school lunch (Cheeseburger, snack size chips, milk, and an apple/salad).
The Farm Expo was designed for student education and interaction but will be open to the public today (2/21/18) from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Also happening tonight: Thank a Farmer Magic Show, 4:30 PM and 6:30 PM; and the Iron Chef Challenge at 5:15 PM.
For more information on the Farm Expo and what agriculture means to the Klamath Basin, contact the Klamath Basin Research and Extension Office at 541-883-7131, 6923 Washburn Way, Klamath Falls, Ore. Or visit them on line at http://oregonstate.edu/dept/kbrec/
