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A couple weeks ago, seven of us from Trumbull County Farm Bureau had the opportunity to travel to Salt Lake City for the American Farm Bureau Annual Convention. We were selected for the trip based on our project we completed this past year. Our project was in agriculture literacy and made a huge impact on our local community, but even further abroad.

Our project was very unique in the fact that all involved in it each had our own niche of what we did to contribute to the project that in the end made the project as a whole succeed.

As I previously mentioned, our project was based in agriculture literacy.

With that, there are so many various pieces that made this project grow and flourish to help better educate the community on how and where their food comes from.

The main basis of our project started at the Trumbull County Fair, where throughout the week of fair we had 4-H kids, Farm Bureau members and community fairgoers participate in helping prepare and assemble book barns.

Another aspect of the project was that we went into local schools, and libraries and had Storytime with a Farmer.  Not only did children and their guardians get to hear a story about farming, but they also got to complete an activity that went with the specific farm theme.  In addition, they had the chance to ask a farmer questions about farming.

Some of those places that we had the chance to read at also benefited from being donated one of our hand-crafted book barns with its own set of farm themed books.

By doing this, we hope that we are able to make a lasting impact in these children’s education and help them bridge the gap on where their food comes from and how it gets to their table.

As we continue to grow and expand the project, we have set the basis for working with Inspiring Minds, an after-school program in the community, and we look forward to continuing to grow our program and work with them throughout this year.

Our goals include helping them to set up gardens to grow their own produce, and see how exactly you can cultivate a crop from the basics that most of us have on hand already.

On our trip out West, we not only had the chance to showcase our project at the trade show, but I feel we made a lasting impact that is able to be spread and donated to others as well; the book barn that was constructed to be on display at our booth was donated to Utah Farm Bureau where local Trumbull County can leave a mark and hopefully grow into other agriculture literacy programs and events in the United States.

As Farm Bureau members, I think we can all proudly say that events like these are our why. Attending these conferences, and being surrounded by so many active Farm Bureau members, is really encouraging.

It is so rewarding to see all of the different programs, and events the Farm Bureau does and how it serves the community as a grassroots organization. If you are interested in becoming a member, please reach out to our organization director at 440-812-6709 to see how you can become involved.

Submitted by Julianne Holler, a member of the Trumbull County Farm Bureau board of trustees.

OFBF Mission: Working together for Ohio farmers to advance agriculture and strengthen our communities.