The Harley Langdale Jr. Foundation, Inc., will extend its support of Destination Ag for three more years at the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Georgia Museum of Agriculture.
Donnie Warren, Executive Director of the Harley Langdale Jr. Foundation, Inc., made the announcement during a recent visit to the Museum in Tifton.
“The Harley Langdale Jr. Foundation is very pleased to continue our partnership with ABAC’s Destination Ag,” Warren said. “We believe it is vitally important to educate our youth about the importance of agriculture and natural resources in their daily lives.
“We are proud of the success of this great program, now entering its sixth year of outreach to South Georgia, and we are excited about the teachers and children who will attend programs at the Georgia Museum of Agriculture this school year.”
Museum Director Garrett Boone said a total of 36,590 children attended Destination Ag programming during the first five years at the Museum. Over 14,000 students are expected to attend Destination Ag classes at the Museum during the 2021-22 year.
“ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture is focused on providing educational opportunities for youth within our region and state,” Boone said. “We are proud to continue our partnership with the Harley Langdale Jr. Foundation, a partnership that allows us to enhance our offerings and provide an experiential Agriculture and Natural Resources educational program taught by ABAC students for Georgia’s youth in pre-k through fifth grade.
“Through our partnership with the Harley Langdale Jr. Foundation, Destination Ag has been able to connect over 36,000 young learners throughout Georgia with the vital roles agriculture and natural resources have in our daily lives. We remain dedicated to positively impacting the youth in Georgia and cultivating the agriculture and natural resource leaders of tomorrow.”
Destination Ag currently serves 12 counties including Cook, Colquitt, Berrien, Lowndes, Tift, Echols, Brooks, Turner, Worth, Irwin, Lanier, and Ben Hill as well as the Valdosta City schools. In the upcoming sixth year of the program, Destination Ag will focus on pre-k, first graders, third graders, and fifth graders.
Boone said the Destination Ag Family Forestry Book and the Peach Book have been distributed to 15,465 youngsters across the state of Georgia. The Forestry and Peanut Traveling Trunk program has also reached a wide variety of students as the trunks make their way across Farm Bureau districts.
As for the upcoming year, Boone will be glad to welcome children back to the Museum campus of ABAC for Destination Ag. The first visits by school kids are scheduled to take place on Aug. 25.
“We are excited to have in-person field trips again this coming school year,” Boone said. “Returning to on-site teaching after last year’s pandemic interruption is important.
“We want to remain focused on keeping Destination Ag fresh for repeat visitors for both students and teachers We also want to cultivate new industry partners and develop new opportunities with current partners.”
Boone said the program will also continue to develop information on cotton for the Our Family Farm book series. Poultry will be the next topic for the book series.