By Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist

Agricultural literacy and awareness within the community is vital. Growing that understanding is the goal of a project Kerr County Farm Bureau is helping with in the local community.

Kerr County Farm Bureau received the Spring 2023 White-Reinhardt Grant for $1,000 to help Kerr County 4-H build the Kerr 4-H Live, Learn and Grow Outdoor Education Area, which will include a learning coop and garden.

“The learning coop and learning gardens will be hands-on for youth, not only 4-H, and adults throughout Kerr County,” Jennifer Smith, Kerr County AgriLife Extension Agent for 4-H and Youth Development, said. “Our 4-H kids will be the ones maintaining the project the most. But the area is going to open opportunities to bring in classes or teachers so they can pass on that information into their classes. We’re going to try to open it up for as much education of the community as possible.”

The Master Gardeners of Kerr County are another partner of the program.

The goal of the learning coop and garden is to provide educational opportunities for both youth and adults, Smith said.

“We will be teaching kids how to plant and harvest, not only focused on vegetables and fruits, but whatever we grow,” she said. “They’re learning the whole process, beginning to end, whether they are going to consume the food themselves or if they’re going to sell to others for a profit. The money that we get is going to go directly into getting all that set up.”

Smith noted they aim to have the garden ready in time to plant for a spring harvest.

Building relationships with the community and agricultural literacy is a top priority for the program.

The partnership between the county’s Farm Bureau and organizations such as 4-H and FFA are important to growing agricultural literacy within the community.

“Partnerships between 4-H or FFA and Farm Bureau is very important,” Steve Bauer, Kerr County Farm Bureau president, said. “The teachers and Extension agents are the ones who have frequent contact with kids, so there’s a better opportunity to communicate with kids, explain and show agriculture to them.”

Cultivating stronger relationships and an understanding of agriculture with the entire community is the goal of the White-Reinhardt Grant Program.

“The White-Reinhardt Grant program encourages collaboration between county Farm Bureaus and schools or educational organizations to implement programs that increase agricultural literacy,” said Jordan Bartels, TFB associate director of Organization Division, Educational Outreach. “These collaborative opportunities allow county Farm Bureaus, like Kerr County Farm Bureau, to expand their reach and have an impact on educational efforts in their community.”

The White-Reinhardt Fund for Education is a project of the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture in cooperation with the American Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee. The fund honors two former committee chairwomen, Berta White and Linda Reinhardt, who were trailblazers in early national efforts to expand the outreach of agricultural education and improve agricultural literacy.

More information about the White-Reinhardt Grant Program is available online.