State Fair provides education for all ages

This year’s Nebraska State Fair allowed fairgoers to be surrounded by agriculture. This last Thursday, the Nebraska Corn Board sponsored two groups to come and give presentations on the stage in the Exhibition Hall near the ag exhibits.

As Thursday was the fair’s “Largest Classroom Day”, the first presentation brought in a lot of children as the gals from Nebraska Agriculture In The Classroom presented on the “'A’maize’ing Corn Plant”.


Ellen Hellerich, state coordinator for Nebraska Ag In The Classroom, gave an excellent presentation on where kids could find corn in their household items. She explained how the corn we see grown in fields is used to feed livestock and make ethanol, and is different from the corn we like to eat off of the cob.

She also finished the presentation with an educational activity where the kids could make “Corn Babies” - or a plastic bag with a wet cotton ball and corn seed - to see how corn grows. Kids were able to tie these to a string and carry them on their neck all day.




Later in the day came education for the adult crowd. Marge Lauer, from the Kearney Area Ag Producers Alliance, or KAAPA, presented on the opportunities that KAAPA offers to its members and the surrounding communities. She explained how those involved with KAAPA have the opportunity to produce, or invest in, value-added agriculture. Specifically, Marge talked about how the KAAPA Ethanol plant was started and how they are working on a new venture now that creates a corn plastic, PLA, made from distillers grains – the co-product of ethanol production.  

We want to thank the Nebraska Ag In The Classroom and KAAPA for coming out to the State Fair to give their presentations! You can find more pictures on our Flickr site, or click here.