By NANCY VORIS
Indiana Correspondent

AVON, Ind. — Angie Williams sees urban sprawl up-close and personal. She is a resident of Hendricks County – one of the “donut” counties surrounding Indianapolis – where houses and strip malls pop up like bean sprouts in spring, choking out grain fields and pastures.

Williams is a licensed teacher with eight years of experience behind her and now farms full-time with her parents, Bruce and Diana Williams. She sees the growth in population as an opportunity to educate the public about how the food they eat gets to their plate.

“More and more people are disconnected from their food supply and the people that grow the most abundant food in the world,” said Williams, whose family raises corn, soybeans and wheat in Avon.

She has been informally educating friends and neighbors about agriculture for several years, and said teaching comes naturally because of her years in the classroom.

As a member of the Hendricks County Farm Bureau, she works with the Ag in the Classroom program to get the word out.

Williams began teaching the agri-lessons when she was asked to speak to her eighth-grade neighbor’s biology class about how her family uses biotechnology on the farm. From that point, she branched out to teach other lessons to any students from kindergarten through high school “who were willing to listen.”
“The hardest part is gaining a rapport with the schools in order to teach the lessons in their schools,” Williams said. “Living in such a populated suburban area, many administrators have been hesitant to allow agri-lessons in their schools. That idea is what I am trying to change.”

She uses the Farm Bureau model of Ag in the Classroom to provide underlying themes and statistics for her lessons, but she individualizes the lessons so that students can make a personal connection. Local farmers and agribusiness owners have been a tremendous help, she said.

The highlight of her lessons are the PowerPoint presentations, which focus on area farmers and their operations. Williams is constantly photographing her dad and other local farmers.

Her hope is to one day give lessons in all of the local elementary schools and teach biotechnology and ag economics in the high schools.

“I do seem to keep busy with preparing lessons and booking the lessons as my phone rings about the lessons constantly and I am always working on new lessons,” Williams said.

One school that has shown an eagerness to learn about agriculture is Pine Tree Elementary School in Avon. Approximately 500 students from kindergarten through fourth-grade attend the school.

With harvest over early this season and lingering warm weather, Williams took her ag education to a new level by organizing a “Farm Equipment Day” recently at the school. She worked with the Hendricks County Farm Bureau, Inc. and the Hendricks County Antique Tractor and Machinery Assoc. to organize the event.

Williams was grateful for the support she received from farmers in the community. Nearly two dozen volunteers brought equipment and educational supplies and staffed the event.

Twelve stations were set up in the school parking lot covering topics including antique and modern farm machinery, innovations in seed technology, biotechnology, benefits of no-till farming, field mapping, biofuels, weed and insects, grain processors, and consumer products using corn, soybeans and wheat.

Children climbed on and off of equipment, getting the opportunity to sit in the driver’s seat and see the world through the eyes of a farmer. They compared antique and modern versions of the same machinery, and looked at different food packages to see what ingredients came from the farm.

They were challenged with questions like “What is an acre?” and were given ideas to ponder and take home to their parents.

“In my opinion, the highlight of the day was the ability of the kids to interact with the farmers,” Williams said.

“So often, farmers go unnoticed in the community, and I hope that this gives the kids not only a greater awareness of agriculture, but a greater appreciation of our abundant food supply and the people that grown the food. We really want to foster good rural/suburban relations.”