01/30/07 Ag Day & Ag Day Essay Contest

Ag Day Essay Contest. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. America was founded on agriculture. Our ancestors struggled to work the land and make it feed the growing masses. Today's farmers work nearly three-and-one-half times more land than their predecessors from 1900. Their needs are different, the crops are different and the rules governing production practices are different. National Ag Day celebrates agriculture, building appreciation of the role of agriculture in our everyday lives! Ag Day is celebrated each year on the first day of spring and this year that is Wednesday, March 21st. There are a number of events planned and online guides to help you plan your own Ag Day events. Students from 7th to 12th grade can participate in this year's National Ag Day Essay Contest. Jenny Picket with National Agri-Marketing Association says this years topic is American Agriculture in the Year 2025. PICKETT: There's a state winner in every state where we have entries and that winner gets $100 and then of the state winners we choose one national winner and they get $1000 and they get to go to Washington to read their essay at a lunch at the Nation Press Club on March 15th. According to Pickett, this is the 3rd year for the essay and judges are looking for creativity, originality, good grammar and spelling. PICKETT: The first year we had about 1000. The second year the topic was "Growing Our Energy." It was a little more specific and we had about 300 entries. Deadline for the essay contest is February 19th and entries can either be mailed or emailed via the essay contest web site. The National Association of Farm Broadcasters is a sponsor of this years essay contest and have provided a convenient link to the essay site on their homepage&www.nafb.com. We farm broadcasters spend a lot of time writing about agriculture and we are always interested to see what the young folks have to say. If your organization or school is planning an Ag Day event, I'd love to hear about it. Be sure and send me an email at gmartin@aginfo.net. I'd love to hear about how you're planning to celebrate Nation Ag Day. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.