The eighth Annual Campus Wide Ag Day is Tuesday, March 27, and this year’s event lineup is more elaborate than ever.
What started as a small get-together for students grew into a full week of events advocating and educating others about agriculture.
Ag Day is organized by the Ag and Bio Prexy Council to celebrate and promote agriculture at SDSU. According to Alison Durheim, Ag-Bio Advocate and senior agricultural communications major, the day serves as a reminder of the university’s longstanding agricultural history.
“The opportunity to celebrate what South Dakota State University was founded on and began with — agriculture — is so important,” Durheim said.
Keeping in line with the theme “Agnite Your Passions,” one of the goals of Ag Day is to relate agriculture to students who may not feel directly impacted by it, and show how it is important to everyone, not just people who work directly within the field.
“Ag Day is all about recognizing the importance of agriculture in everyday lives with everything from a prime rib to the cotton T-shirt,” Durheim said.
The event kicks off on at 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 26, with an employer panel in Rotunda A.
The main events are Tuesday, March 27. They include club and industry booths from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. around campus and a banquet at 5:30 p.m.
The Tuesday Ag Day banquet features a free meal and a speaker in the Volstorff Ballroom.
This year’s presenter is Cristen Clark, a sixth-generation farmer, wife and mother from Runnells, Iowa. The owner and author of the blog “Food and Swine” will speak on sharing common agricultural practices with consumers who don’t understand the agricultural industry.
At 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 28, there will be a showing of the “Food Evolution” documentary in Rotunda D.
Prexy Council President and junior agriculture business major, Sam Johnson said involving agricultural companies in the event allows students to network and share their own ideas with leaders in the industry.
“My favorite part of Ag Day is connecting the industry with students,” Johnson said. “It’s awesome to watch students interact with industry sponsors and watch the value of agriculture be translated to all of the students at SDSU and the Brookings community.”
Even though Ag Day is mainly targeted toward agriculture students, the event reaches a broad range of students.
According to Katherine Hodge, junior animal science major, it gives students a chance to network and share information with people they wouldn’t normally encounter in class.
“You go to an ag school and just assume that everyone knows about agriculture,” Hodge said. “It really brings about a broader awareness. I think it’s fun to have a reason to start those conversations about agriculture, being able to apply what I learned in class and share it with other people.”
More information and updates leading up to Ag Day are available on the SDSU College of Ag and Bio Prexy Council Facebook page at @sdsuagbioprexycouncil.
