Monday's agriculture website - American Association for Agricultural Education

Today's agriculture website to share with blog readers is for the American Association of Agricultural Education (AAAE). The AAAE is dedicated to studying, applying, and promoting the teaching and learning processes in agriculture. Teachers serve as an advocate for learning about agriculture in addition to providing opportunities for individual student and organizational growth, development, and renewal. As a professional organization, AAAE members value effective teaching skills, while at the same time, developing and empowering students. Membership is open to all agriculture educators at any level. Those interested in agricultural education, but not involved with teaching, are encouraged to become associate members.

Monday's agriculture website - National Ag Day

National Ag Day is a day to recognize and celebrate the abundance provided by agriculture. Every year, producers, agricultural associations, corporations, universities, government agencies and countless other across America join together to recognize the contributions of agriculture. This year's event is March 15. The Ag Day website lists event ideas and agricultural resources to celebrate Ag Day in your own community.

The event was started by the Agriculture Council of America (ACA), an organization uniquely composed of leaders in the agriculture, food and fiber communities dedicated to increasing the public awareness of agriculture's vital role in our society. The Agriculture Council of America and the National Ag Day program was started in 1973. It is a non-profit organization the helps to support and provide education to all interested in Ag Day.

Monday's agriculture website: Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project

The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) is today's website of interest to share with readers. ASAP helps to create and expand local food markets as a way to preserve local agricultural heritage, give everyone access to fresh, healthy, locally grown food, and a way to support local farmers. The mission of the organization is to help local farms thrive, link farmers to markets and supporters, and build healthy communities through connections to local food.

The organization takes an all inclusive approach to food and farms. In addition to promoting farmers' markets, it has a cookbook, organizes farm tours and provides nutritional education to school children. The website also provides a multitude of gardening ideas for children, in additional to kid friendly recipes and and children's literature.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: AGPROUD

Are you involved in some way with agriculture and farming? Are you "agproud"? Today's agriculture website of interest to share with readers is the Agriculture Proud site, sharing the story of all people who help produce food.

Being Agriculture Proud simply involves telling your agriculture story. The site encourages farmers to explain why are you proud to be a part of agriculture. A few key points of emphasis are:

• Be real and authentic about your passion for Agriculture
• Show the enthusiasm for your passion
• Keep it simple and to the point
• Make it a candid point of view (everything in life is not flowers and sunshine)
• Stick to your experience. You can’t defend everyone

The site is maintained by Ryan Goodman, a Texas cattleman with a desire to make agriculture's voice heard. You can find Ryan as @AR_Ranchhand on Twitter.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: COOPERSVILLE FARM MUSEUM

Today's agricultural website of interest belongs to the Coopersville Farm Museum. Built to honor the history of farming and dedicated to the memory of Peter Hanenburg, the museum serves as an anchor in the historic downtown area of the Coopersville, Michigan. The 12,000 square-foot facility displays rotating agricultural related exhibits, contrasting old versus new, and showcases the John Deere collection of Ed Hanenburg, the man behind the museum.The museum is open all year but hours vary by season.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: AGRICULTURE IN THE CLASSROOM

*For those new to the Cow Art and More blog, every Monday, gallery owner, veterinarian and jewelry artist Kathy Swift shares a website or agricultural article of interest.*

Today's agricultural site to share is from the United States Department of Agriculture's, "Agriculture in the Classroom" program. The particular part of the site I find interesting is "Ag in the classroom lesson plans". For those looking for ways to communicate about agriculture to school aged children, it is a great resource of ideas on how to present a variety of topics to them. It lists hundreds of educational resources designed to help educators locate high quality classroom materials and information to increase agricultural literacy among their Pre-K through 12th grade students.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: AG DAY

Today's website of interest is Ag Day. In case you missed it, last week was National Agriculture Week, culminating in National Agriculture Day on March 20. The Ag Day website provides agriculture supporters and enthusiasts resources on how to communicate about their industry to others.

The event was started by the Agriculture Council of America (ACA), an organization uniquely composed of leaders in the agriculture, food and fiber communities dedicated to increasing the public awareness of agriculture's vital role in our society. The Agriculture Council of America and the National Ag Day program was started in 1973. It is a non-profit organization the helps to support and provide education to all interested in Ag Day.

Still wondering how you can bring agriculture to your local community? Read Michelle Payn-Knoper's blog post on the National Ag Week Idea Extravaganza. You'll hear what "agvocates" (such as myself) have done to educate others about where their food comes from.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: AGDAY ESSAY CONTEST

While I have featured Ag Day before on the blog, I wanted to bring to everyone's attention an essay contest the organization is sponsoring. The Agriculture Council of America (ACA), sponsor of Ag Day, calls on seventh- to 12th-grade students each year to submit an original, 450-word essay about the importance of agriculture. This year’s theme is “American Agriculture: Abundant, Affordable, Amazing,” and the deadline is Feb. 12. The contest winner will receive $1000 and be flown to Washington, D.C. to receive the award during the "Celebration of Ag" dinner. Information about the contest can be found at the Ag Day essay link.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: AGRICULTURE FACTS

Today's website of agriculture focus to share is the agriculture facts site from NC State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. This site shares with users some basic information about farming and agriculture in the United States. One of their facts is "Of each dollar spent on food, the farmer's share is approximately 23 cents."

Monday's agriculture website of interest: A HISTORY OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE

Published by the Economic Research Service in 2000, today's agriculture themed website of interest is the History of American Agriculture. This website details agriculture both by time, split up by decades, and by category, such as by transportation and economic cycles. The timeline also includes pictures relative to the topic.