The free Saturday affair, which drew more than 10,000 visitors last year to the university's dairy farm, is a major annual undertaking by UD's College of Agriculture & Natural Resources.
This year marks the 37th Ag Day – a space where seven students, faculty and staff volunteers coordinate a livestock display with UD's animals, live bee demonstrations, free-flight bird shows, tree-climbing, tractor rides, farm tours, beehives, live music, 4-H arts and crafts, plant sales and 70 other hand-on exhibits and demonstrations – all to bring focus to agriculture's critical role in feeding a growing world population of 7 billion.
"The takeaway, I hope, is that they see that every meal you eat, whether it's a full meal or a snack, ties back to agriculture," said UD senior Maya Althouse, 22.
"A lot of people are very distant from livestock and the farming community," she said. "So I hope that Ag Day is a chance for them to see agriculture in any form – whether it's crop or meat or dairy, pest control, food science or the effect on wildlife or habitat, how that's very much a part of their lives as a consumer. And I hope they come away with a greater appreciation for the work and the science."
Farm science
"Feed the World, Protect the Planet," is the theme for this year's Ag Day, which brings an opportunity to showcase what the college is really about, said Renee Poole, a 23-year-old recent graduate-turned-supervisor at the UDairy Creamery.
"People don't think about where their food comes from and how the animals are treated," Poole said. "A lot of it deals with farming, but there's also a lot beyond the farm, like food science.
"People are really working hard on techniques to make food safer."
Mark Rieger, dean of the College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, reinforced the words of his current and former student advocates.
"We hope to be myth busters of sorts, we want them to walk away and shake their head and say, 'Wow, we didn't know that about the food we eat every day,' " Rieger said. "If they do that, then I'm really happy."
By 2050, the population is expected be between 9 billion and 10 billion, which will require at least 60 percent, and some say 100 percent, more food production, Rieger said. Take China and India, which one-third of the word's population calls home, he said. "They're developing a middle class quickly, and those people are going out and buying cars and buying meat and dairy."
Then comes demand to grow more livestock feed and an ever-growing need for employees in the agriculture arena.
"What it turns out to be is about two job opportunities for every graduate we can produce nationwide," Rieger said. The projection is for 50,000 to 55,000 jobs, he said, yet "there are only 29,000 graduates for agriculture and natural resources every year."
Big business
The big business of agriculture in the First State carries some compelling numbers with it, according to the University of Delaware and National Agricultural Statistics Service, such as:
• 13,919: Agricultural employment (including production and processing)
• $1.2 billion: The value of agricultural production (crops and livestock)
• $429 million: Value of crop production
• $854 million: Value of poultry/livestock production
• 508,654 acres: Land in farms and
• 2,457: Number of farms.
"The backbone of Delaware agriculture is the poultry industry, which provides thousands of jobs in production and processing," said Ed Kee, Delaware Secretary of Agriculture. "Related to that are our grain producers, growing corn and soybeans, which largely goes to poultry feed."
Sussex County is the No. 1 broiler producing county in the nation. Last year saw record corn yields, the largest since 2000, and fruit and vegetable growers also are thriving, Kee said, with Delaware a leader in lima bean production.
"In Delaware, we have a variety of programs, partnerships and initiatives to bring more people into agriculture and to strengthen the industry," Kee said, and "drawing the next generation of farmers into the field is important. ... We are addressing that through the state's Young Farmers Program."
Events like Ag Day are significant for Delawareans to learn more about farming and the role that agriculture plays in our lives, Kee said.
Brown Mang
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