Where does my food come from?” is a question not many urban fourth-graders ask very often. Some might reply with: “the grocery store,” unaware that the hamburger they enjoy at the local burger joint may have come from a steer raised right here in Texas. This generation is further removed from the farm than any generation before, and the importance of educating our children about how their food and clothing get from the field to the store is vital.
Ag in the Bag, which is held in the Texas Tech Livestock Arena, hosted its first event in 2000 to help educate local elementary school students about agriculture in West Texas. The program caters to around 1,200 fourth graders on the South Plains and features live demonstrations on topics like dairy production, cotton, food science, water, natural resource conservation and farming. Co-op kids from Frenship ISD, Lubbock Cooper ISD, New Deal ISD, New Home ISD, Roosevelt ISD and Shallowater ISD attended the program in 2017. South Plains Electric Cooperative has been a proud sponsor of the event for 17 years.
