The 2012 Crest Agriculture Show is set to be
the biggest ever when the event is staged at Churchill Park in Lautoka from
August 6 to 11.
With the theme 'Grow Me Fiji', the one-week show will display various
ministries, departments and the role they play as well as business houses,
financial institutions and stakeholders of the agriculture sector.
Crest Agriculture Show chairman and the Department of Agriculture permanent
secretary Mason Smith said the Ministry of Primary Industries was all geared up
for a hectic one-week with different activities planned for everyone.
"Special days are set aside for different activities and members of the
public are urged to come out in numbers," Mr Smith said.
"The financial sector headed by the Reserve Bank of Fiji will provide
information on micro financing that will assist farmers grow their business;
the health sector on NCDs; oratory contests by school children; tourism
sector on the promotion of growing local produce and many more."
Crest Company has been awarded the naming rights for the show with a
sponsorship of $40,000.
Lautoka City Council also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the
Department of Agriculture for hosting this year's event. This agreement has
prompted the council to give $25,000 in kind for the usage of its facilities.
The event will end with an awards night for the Prime Minister's Crest
Agriculture Farmer of the Year Award. Other awards will include Young Farmer of
the Year, Woman in Agriculture Award and FSC Sugar Cane Farmer of the Year
Award.
Students mentor students in agriculture
Kynoch classes tour ag complex at Marysville
High School
With dirt on their hands or fingers moist
from baby goat nibbles, 100 Kynoch Elementary School second-graders toured
Marysville High School's new agriculture complex in the last two weeks for a
hands-on lesson in plant and animal science.
The children scuttled from station to
station, enthusiastically peppering the high school tour guides with questions
and comments. The agriculture tour concluded the day-long field trip, which
began with a historical tour of downtown Marysville and ended with planting seedlings,
plant propagation and meeting goats, pigs and a miniature horse.
"We never get to do anything like
this," said Hunter Valencia, 8. "You get to have a plant and take it
home. You get to grow your plants and help the community."
The new $1 million complex, which was funded
by a voter-approved bond measure, opened last year and includes a barn,
greenhouses and corral with bleachers. Agricultural science teacher Bonnie
Magill said she's eager to host more field trips and community activities.
"This was the whole point, to make the
facility open to the community," she said.
Teacher Laura Anderson was thrilled to have
such an educational outing for nearly no cost and something that complements
social studies and life sciences children learn in school. At Kynoch, the
students have their own greenhouse at school, and some classes have been
raising baby chicks this spring.
"They were so excited to see a real
garden," she said. "When we get out to water or weed or deadhead,
they feel it's the coolest thing."
Anderson also thinks the field trip has
deeper influence, although students may be a little young to recognize it.
"This is an agricultural area — they
need to know this stuff," she said.
At one station, the second-graders scooped
big handfuls of soil into little plastic pots, taking delicate care to nestle
in pepper, marigold and sunflower seeds. Nearby, other students plucked
trailing vines off mature plants and plopped them into soil.
"We are picking these off the plants and
sticking them in the holes to start new plants," explained Jaxon
Finley, 8, as he tucked stems into soil.
"It's fun because our teacher has a lot of plants, and we work in our
garden at school."
Nearby, other students traversed through a
Mediterranean garden as guides explained the plants were drought-tolerant, so
they did not get thirsty as often as other plants. And when students explored
the cherry, almond, peach and apricot trees, Amber Wagnon, 8, told one of her
classmates the green fruit they saw was not yet prime for picking.
"They are supposed to be orange when
they are ripe," she said.
A major highlight came when students watched
Eli, the miniature horse, get shaved of his long winter coat. As MHS junior
Amber Elliot, 16, asked, "You guys want to pet him now?" hands shot
into the air and students crowded at the gate for a chance to rub his soft,
velvety sides.
"I think it was cool because we got to
see the horses being shaved and see how they feel," said Christina
Hatfield, 8. "I would describe it as soft. It kind of felt weird."
Students soon moved into the ag barn with
shouts of "Hey piggy, piggy. Oink, oink." A few bleated greetings at
the goats before reaching in for a feel, giggling as the baby animals nibbled
on their fingers.
"Because they wanted to drink off the
bottles," said Kayla Hodges, 8. "They think it was the mother."
Tour guide Marisa Marquard, 16, said the
field trip combined two of her favorite activities — spending time in the
arboretum and being with kids.
"They got to learn a lot about what they
are going to be doing in the future when they get to high school," she
said.
Marquard and her classmates said they enjoyed
seeing younger students get so excited about the plants and animals.
"I think it's great to open their eyes
to what options they have if they want to go into ag," said junior Brooke
Fletcher, 17. "Kids are awesome."
