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by Natalie Walston

Graduating senior David Green said he would have benefited from taking agriculture classes at Buckeye Central High School in New Washington. Green plans to study agriculture education in college so he can teach such a class in the future.

"Agriculture is the basis for everything," he said. "Everyone should have a little background in it."

But Green is graduating the year before vocational agriculture classes are to be reinstated at the rural Crawford County school. Buckeye Central used to offer the classes to high school students until the 1990s.

"We cut the program because enrollment dropped," said Gary Green, who is David’s father and president of the Buckeye Central Board of Education. Scheduling issues and the retirement of the last vo-ag instructor also lead the school to discontinue the program.

But now enthusiasm for the program has returned. The elder Green said it also helped that enrollment in the district went up by 300 students.

"Enrollment went up because we brought a new township into the district," he said. Already 45 high school students have signed up to take the classes; total enrollment in the school district is 750 students, with this year’s graduating class at 54.

The Crawford County Farm Bureau board brought the idea to reinstate vo-ag to the school board about a year and a half ago. Korre Boyer, Farm Bureau organization director for Crawford, Morrow, Richland and Marion counties, said Buckeye Central alumnus John Dick and district resident Todd Fike were the first to really push for the classes. Dick had gone through the first vo-ag classes and Fike has boys who will soon enter the school system.

After meeting with the school board, the Farm Bureau contacted the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) to secure between $20,000 to $25,000 in yearly state assistance.

"Buckeye Central is such an agricultural community. It was a shame they didn’t have an ag program for the kids," Boyer said.

Boyer also pointed out that the average age of farmers is increasing and many are retiring.

"Vo-ag lays the foundation for younger people to come in to the agriculture industry," he said. The classes will teach production and crop management, among other topics.

Although Buckeye Central lost its ag program years ago, ODE statistics show that Agricultural/Environmental Systems, a classification given to vo-ag programs, attracts the most students in Ohio schools. The department began tracking enrollment in specialized courses in the 2003-2004 school year.

ODE’s Pat Huston said that during that school year, agricultural classes had the highest number of enrolled students in 15 different career/tech fields, with ag students enrolled in 11,311 classes.

And enrollment in ag programs has increased.

"In the 2004-2005 school year, 504 additional students were enrolled," she said. The second highest career/tech field is Information Technology, and third is Business and Administrative Services.

Buckeye Central High School Principal Jay Zeiter said vo-ag is the first program added to the school’s curriculum since the district added new students four years ago.

"This is the proper class to add because everybody involves themselves in agriculture," he said. "We have a lot of farm families here. With 45 kids signing up for the classes, that tells you there’s some excitement."

Caption: Buckeye Central Board of Education President Gary Green (left) talks with his son, David Green (center), and Buckeye Central High School Principal Jay Zeiter about reinstating vocational agriculture classes this fall. Photo by Natalie Walston