US: PENNSYLVANIA - A New Crop of Farmers: Mobile Agriculture Lab Teaches Wingate Kids About Farming

WINGATE, Pa. (WJAC) — Agriculture is vital to Pennsylvania's economy and to this region. That’s why teachers say it’s important to teach children from a young age about farming and agricultural science. The Mobile Ag Ed Science Lab does just that.

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At Wingate Elementary, the 40-foot mobile lab is parked just outside the classrooms.

On Tuesday, children shuffle in for about 20 minutes to learn about agriculture through wall decorations hung all throughout the lab about various types of food and livestock. They also perform activities.

In Tuesday's activities attended by 6 News, younger children pinched tiny objects representing an agricultural item into a plastic baggie to a "farm charm". They were also given a farm-related image to pin to a board showing a farm.

Sent to teach the kids is a teacher from the Pennsylvania Friends of Agriculture Foundation (PFAF), Laurie Brundage. According to her, younger kids do those activities while older ones do proper labs. She described the farm charms to 6 News.

"So, the children will take this home and then they are supposed to teach somebody at home what lives and grows on the farms, and especially the farms in Pennsylvania. So then they have something tangible to take home with them," Brundage says.

She also says there are six mobile labs zipping around the commonwealth visiting elementary and middle schools, making one-week stops, so be on the lookout for one coming to schools near you.

For more information on the mobile agriculture lab, visit the PFAF's page.