During this National Agriculture Week, the Vermilion County Farm Bureau made a stop at the Danville Public Library Wednesday morning for a special donation from their “Ag in the Classroom” program. The “Book Barn,” which offers educational books and toys to help children learn about agriculture and farming, now has a permanent home in the Public Library Children’s Department. As the Farm Bureau’s Tom Fricke explains, the Book Barn has been around since 2009. And this seemed the best place to give it a final home.
(Left) Vermilion County Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom Coordinator Missy Buhr (L) and Danville Public Library Children’s Department Manager Lisa Abdelghani (R) welcome the Book Barn. (Right) Three examples of farm toys children will find in the Book Barn.
AUDIO: It wasn’t going out quite as much as it had been. So we thought bringing it to the library, as they’ve redone their children’s area here, makes it a good opportunity for more kids to get to be able to use the books, play with the toys, and get a hands-on feel for farming and food production.
Danville Public Library Director Jennifer Hess, and Assistant Director Jessica Augustson, are both very happy with this addition.
AUDIO (Hess): And this is a great opportunity for the children to play and learn, so we appreciate the donation.
AUDIO (Augustson): In any aspect when we are trying to educate kids, you want to make it fun. That looks like so much fun, I want to go play in it. So they’re going to learn a lot from fun activities.
As for the mission of Ag Week, Fricke says it’s important to note how strong Vermilion County is in farming, and all you have to do is look at the harvest numbers.
AUDIO: The great yield and production that we had last year; how big we are in relationship to the rest of the state. We were top 12 in corn production, top five in soybean production. All the other things that come from farm products, that we use in our everyday lives. Farming is still a family organization, family operation. Ninety-five percent of the farms are still family owned farms. And we have several here in our county that have been in the same family for 100 to 150-plus years. And so that’s something to recognize and be grateful for.
And although 2022 looks to be a challenging growing season due to input costs, there is no doubt that the productivity of agriculture in Vermilion County will continue. And the Danville Public Library is a great place to be reminded of that. You’ll also be finding some special Ag Week placemats in area restaurants, with the theme of “Celebrate Agriculture – It Connects Us All.”
