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Each year, the OFBF State Fair interns travel to locations around the United States that offer agritourism and agricultural exhibits, with the goal of finding inspiration for Ohio Farm Bureau’s Land and Living Exhibit at the Ohio State Fair. This year, the main destination for our trip was The Gateway City of St. Louis, with a stop in Indianapolis along the way.

We started off our Monday morning with the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis to see its “Dow-AgriSciences ScienceWorks” exhibit. This exhibit highlights all forms of natural science and its relationship to agriculture in a fun and exciting way. From the weather, to our ecosystems, to the way we manage our homes, this exhibit engages young people and explains to them how much impact agriculture has. That evening, we finished our journey to St. Louis and toured downtown before heading back to our hotel to rest up for a day full of exhibit exploration. Pictured are Abby, me and Kalyn in front of the entrance to the agriculture exhibit in the Indianapolis Children’s Museum.

We woke up the next day and made our way to Purina Farms. We explored their Visitor’s Center that included a barn filled with dairy cattle, piglets, chicks, bunnies and geese, as well as a “hay loft” for children to play in. We finished the visit was by watching a dog agility show that featured the trainer’s own pets they had rescued!

In the afternoon, we reached the focal point of our trip: the “GROW” exhibit of the St. Louis Science Center. This portion of the museum was sponsored by Missouri Farm Bureau and Illinois Farm Bureau. This exhibit features many different facets of agriculture, especially a seed’s journey from farm to fork. While we were there, we saw soil samples from around the world, a combine demonstration and the feeding of the exhibit’s “backyard” chicken coop.

We would like to thank David Rule from the Ohio Farm Bureau staff for taking us on this trip and for all of the guidance he has provided us so far! Abby, Kalyn and I can’t wait to take what we’ve learned and incorporate it into the Land and Living Exhibit this year!