Area fifth graders explored a variety of agriculture topics at Colorado State University Extension's annual AgFest program on Friday at Northeastern Junior College.
With the help of Extension agents and agriculture students at NJC, the youth explored science, technology, engineering and math through hands-on workshops.
This year's festival included 10 stations, including the GPS mapping station, where Morgan County Extension Agent Marlin Eisenach spoke about how farmers use GPS mapping to plow, so they don't use too much agricultural herbicide or insecticide and they can save as much fuel as possible.
At the groundwater station, Extension Agent Molly Witzel, from Burlington, spoke about watershed, an area where smaller bodies of water flow into bigger bodies of water; an aquifer, "a big underground lake;" and other groundwater terms. She also spoke about what happened during the South Platte River flood last fall.
Another station focused on power and simple tools. Students learned about the formula for horse power and the different tools that are used in agriculture, including a plow, wedge and pulley and lever system. The fifth graders even got to try their hand at lifting weights using a pulley and lever system.
Additionally, at a station on embryology, students learned about the lifecycle of an egg, incubation and the parts of an egg. They also had a chance to look at some different types of eggs, as well as baby chickens that had just hatched the previous day and some eggs in an incubator that were getting ready to hatch.
At the butter station, Logan County Extension Megan Jedlicka talked about the dairy industry, noting there are about 135,000 dairy cows in Colorado. She also spoke about the different breeds of dairy cows and the different kinds of products the dairy industry produces: cheese, cream, butter and ice cream.
Extension Agent Jamie Axtell, from Washington County, spoke to the students about how butter used to be made in earlier years and how it's made today.
A rangeland ecology station had students learning about the different plants and animals that can be found on rangeland. Logan County Extension Agent Casey Matney talked about the importance of rangeland, because it has trees, animals and water.
At a plant science station the fifth graders learned about the difference between dicot and monocot plants, they got to see different types of seeds and they learned about how plants grow.
Other topics students got a chance to study at the festival included honey bees, Colorado agriculture and microbes.
For more information on CSU Extension's upcoming events call (970) 522-3200 or visit http://extension.colostate.edu/logan.
Contact Journal-Advocate staff writer Callie Jones at 970-526-9286 or firstname.lastname@example.org