Ag Immersion Events Expose Students to Specialized Farming
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As the state’s largest industry, agriculture requires a magnitude of expertise – in bioscience, veterinary medicine, horticulture, business and more. High school students had the opportunity to try skills during ag immersion events hosted by Innovative Livestock Services (ILS), a cattle feeding and farming business in Kansas and Nebraska, and the Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA).
“We are passionate about what we do at ILS, and these immersion days have given us a chance to share that excitement with young people,” says Bronson Smith, ILS CEO. “Our goal is to show students our cattle feeding and farming operations and career opportunities.”
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Hands-On Learning
With assistance from KDA, ILS employees and industry representatives set up interactive learning rotations for the students. Stations included live cattle evaluation and feed truck driving as well as farm equipment operations, and crop input management and safety. Students had the opportunity to listen to an animal’s lungs and measure its weight and temperature.
Smith says the ILS operations utilize technology to enable them to be more efficient and precise in daily operations and management. A ruminant nutritionist taught the students about cattle feed ingredients, provided them with recipe cards listing an animal’s weight, and let them create their own starter and finisher rations.
“These days are designed to be very hands-on,” Smith says. “The students were professional and eager to learn about what we do.”
Participating ILS and industry representatives had meaningful experiences also.
“The excitement and enthusiasm from the students were contagious, and refreshed us to interact with the next generation of agriculture industry leaders,” Smith says.
ILS has hosted two immersion days, one focused on cattle feeding and one on the farming operation, and Smith says the company will continue hosting and participating in these sorts of events in the future.
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Immersed in Ag
“This was the first ag immersion event we’ve attended, and it was a real aha moment for the kids because they got a behind-the-scenes look at things we talk about in the classroom,” says Anita DeWeese, Skyline High School agriculture teacher and FFA advisor. “They were sponges, soaking it all up. They were engaged at every station, and they encouraged other students to go if they got a chance.”
In addition to the rotating stations, a student talked about his experiences working a summer job at the feedlot.
“It was neat for them to have that perspective from one of their peers,” DeWeese says.
But perhaps the overall biggest impact was learning just how much goes on in a feedlot.
“They found out it’s about a lot more than feeding cattle,” she says.
Creating Connections
Ag immersion opportunities span all sectors of the industry. In addition to the ILS event, KDA partnered with beef, swine, landscape and ag equipment retailers to offer six similar events.
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The program originated from a brainstorming session following the inaugural Kansas Ag Growth Summit and Kansas agriculture worker survey of 2016, when KDA representatives realized the need to connect young people with career opportunities for the overall benefit of the agriculture workforce.
The first ag immersion event, created in 2018 by a KDA intern, was a success, with 14 of 21 participating students reporting an interest in agricultural careers. Popularity of such events and increasing numbers of internships and mentoring programs are all steps in the right direction.