This spring, 25,500 students and teachers joined local dairy farmers who hosted three Virtual Farm Tours coordinated by American Dairy Association North East.
Since launching the Virtual Farm Tour concept in 2018, the 21 tours hosted live from the farm by 10 different farmers from New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey have racked up nearly 500,000 views between the live and recorded broadcasts.
“The popularity of our virtual farm tour program continues to grow because of the digital world our consumers live in, especially the Gen Z students,” said ADA North East CEO John Chrisman. “We can extend our reach and we’re able to show how farmers truly care about their cows and the
environment and are committed to producing a sustainable product – all things that matter to Gen Zs.”
The spring tour hosts included:
- Ed Facer of Star Rock Farms, Conestoga, Pa., in March;
- Kelly Reynolds of Reyncrest Farm, Corfu, N.Y., in April; and
- Sarah Lyness of Spring Run Dairy, Pittstown, N.J., in May
“It’s so important to do these tours so students can make the connection between the farm and the dairy products they are consuming in school,” said Reynolds.
Lyness agreed and said, “Hosting the tour was a great way to tell a positive story about a dairy farm.”
ADA North East has been testing and implementing ways to make this program more valuable for teachers and participants, including offering the two sessions from each farm. Other developments in the program this spring included vocabulary lists and teacher-developed student lesson plans which meet Common Core Standards for elementary, middle and high school classes.
All tours are available at AmericanDairy.com under “Virtual Farm Tours.” Watch for upcoming announcements for the Fall 2022 Virtual Farm Tours.
Source: American Dairy Association North East