Tour Showcases Arizona Winter Agriculture to Teachers
TIFFANY SELCHOW, DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL MARKETING AND CONSUMER OUTREACH | May 3, 2023
AAI 2.0 Recap Report
Tour of Yuma, AZ
In February, the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension's Agricultural Literacy program and the Arizona Foundation for Agricultural Literacy held their first Arizona Agricultural Institute 2.0 in Yuma, Arizona. Teachers were able to see why it is called the winter vegetable capital of the world! They had hands on experience harvesting lettuce and celery at the Yuma Agricultural Center, visited Keithly-Williams' seed facility and greenhouse, Kuechel citrus farm, GreenGate Fresh packing facility, DatePac packing facility, Five Rivers feedyard, and the San Luis Port of Entry to see the amount of people that cross the border every day to support the agricultural industry in Yuma.
The Rotation of Future AAI 2.0 Locations
While AAI 1.0 will remain focused on agricultural production in Maricopa County, the new AAI 2.0 program will revolve around the state to showcase the many different and unique agricultural regions that Arizona has.
Impact
Fourteen teachers from 10 of Arizona's 15 counties, who teach over 1,500 students annually, attended AAI 2.0 this year. Pre and post-surveys were conducted to measure the teacher's change in knowledge in 7 areas: familiarity with greenhouse production, citrus production, agricultural workers and work conditions, leafy green harvesting and packaging, food safety, the date industry, and the beef industry. In all areas, an increase in knowledge occurred.
Teacher Testimonials
The teachers raved about the tour and had the following things to say:
The border crossing was awesome! I also thought the fact that the GreenGate Fresh people dismantle their whole facility to move it to Salinas was crazy, but makes sense. I can honestly say, I loved this entire trip!
A wonderful trip. It is amazing how much can be packed into 2 days. Wonderful job!
This was a great opportunity and I am glad I was a part of it.
Making contacts, like with UofA Extension and industry staff, has been so valuable to all of my teaching. I also got to know some of the other agriculture teachers around the state, and that helps too.
Keithly Williams and Gary at the seed starting were so charismatic; all of the charismatic people telling their back stories and interests. The border workers were mind blowing to learn, see, and think about.
Thank you to the 2023 AFAL donors that made AAI 2.0 possible!
This tour was generously supported by Dairy Council of Arizona, Arizona Department of Education, Arizona Farm Bureau, Arizona Beef Council, GreenGate Fresh, Five Rivers Cattle Feeding, Arizona Cattle Feeders’ Association, Arizona Department of Agriculture, Arizona State Cowbelles, Keithly-Williams Seeds, Datepac, The University of Arizona, and the Arizona Foundation for Agricultural Literacy.
Generous sponsorship was provided by the Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation, A Tumbling T Ranches, Arizona Grain, Research & Promotion Council, Krentz Ranch Operations, H Four Farms, Monica & Chris Pastor, Bales Hay Sales, Griffin Ranches, Inc., Curry Farms, Lakin Cattle Company, Arizona Ag Marketing, Sunrise Dairy Farm, Pinal County Farm Bureau, Arizona Grain, Inc., Alcaida Farms, WRA Cattle Company, Susan Chase, Justice Brothers Ranch, Joyce Gifford, Wendy Conger, Coconino County Farm Bureau, Desert Chemical, Inc., Ross Farms, James M. Webb, Western Central Initiative, Jero Inc., and Jim and Karen Weddle.
To learn more about the Arizona Agricultural Institutes and the Arizona Foundation for Agricultural Literacy, visit here.