By Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist

County Farm Bureaus in East Texas hatched an idea to bring agriculture to classrooms in the area.

The new program, Eggcellence in the Classroom, encourages students and teachers to learn more about poultry production.

Nacogdoches, Jefferson, Tyler, Jasper, Polk and Houston County Farm Bureaus purchased egg incubators for local classrooms so students could experience the beginning stages of a chicken’s life cycle.

“We knew there was a need to get into the schools to incorporate agriculture,” Jodie Goff, Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Area 9 field representative, said. “After visiting with a teacher, we discussed ways we could incorporate agriculture. Life cycles are an important lesson for elementary classes, and we realized the best way to incorporate life cycles and agriculture would be bringing in an incubator.”

The county Farm Bureaus supply the 30-day incubator, eggs and curriculum.

Goff said the program quickly became popular within the East Texas classrooms.

Nacogdoches County Farm Bureau was the first to purchase an incubator, and now the county organization has seven.

Since beginning the program in March, 30 classrooms have hatched chicks through the fun and educational program.

“County Farm Bureaus have made the initial investment with buying incubators and provides the curriculum, as well,” Goff said. “This program helps bring agriculture to the classroom and builds relationships between the county Farm Bureaus and local teachers.”

Goff said that teachers are already signing up to bring the incubators to their classrooms next year through Egg-cellence in the Classroom.

One teacher who was excited to sign up again is Nacogdoches High School biology teacher Roya Dinbali.

“The students loved this project. With each egg that would hatch, they would get more excited,” Dinbali said. “This allowed me to show them how to be a good steward of animals and how to help them grow.”

She noted they discussed how the eggs grew and evaluated the eggs in each class, breaking down each stage.

“I recommend this program to all teachers. Students don’t get to see this stuff often. They may just see a chicken outside at their house in a chicken coop, but that’s it,” Dinbali said. “They don’t get to really look at it, study it, see how they’re growing and all the steps that this program brings.”

County Farm Bureau members have helped with the Eggcellence in the Classroom program by not only providing eggs, but also joining the classrooms to discuss raising poultry.

Mike Meador, Nacogdoches County poultry farmer, helped get incubators to local classrooms and answered students’ questions on what to expect with the eggs.

“Both the students and teachers were excited to see the process,” Meador said. “We taught them about the specifics of the eggs. You can’t go to Walmart and buy a dozen eggs and have those eggs hatch.”

After the eggs hatched, the county Farm Bureaus helped find farms for the chickens, and some teachers even volunteered to take them home.

“The program has been a success,” Goff said. “There was a waiting list for incubators this spring. We hope to continue to grow the program over time, and we appreciate the excitement from the teachers and their willingness to incorporate agricultural learning in the classroom.”

For more information on other ag in the classroom activities available from Farm Bureau, visit texasfarmbureau.org/aitc.