Kentucky agriculture leaders educate youth on the important role agriculture plays in society
CALLOWAY COUNTY, Ky. (KBSI) – North Calloway County Elementary students in Kentucky got some pretty important visitors today and learned about the importance behind agriculture in Kentucky.
Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Jonathan Shell, Clinton Corner Kentucky FFA (Future Farmers of America) State Vice President, and Ariana Rodriguez Miss Kentucky 2025 are going to elementary schools this week in support of AG week, with one goal in mind, to teach youth about the importance of agriculture.
“A recent study says that 7% of Americans believe that chocolate milk comes from a brown cow. Every day there are high schoolers coming into local FFA chapters and agriculture programs that don’t know where their food comes from, where their clothes come from, or anything that relates to agriculture” says Corner.
According to Shell Kentucky has seen a steady decline in farmers and farming and if this continues it could have big impacts.
Calloway 5th graders got to ask questions and received knowledge on how agriculture works in society every day.
“Weve lost farmland, we’ve lost farmers, especially over the last five years. We’ve seen a rapid rate of that loss. So, what we try to do at the Department of Agriculture is pour into our FFA chapters across the state of Kentucky, working with them to engage young people to get more involved in AG”
As part of holding the title for Miss Kentucky it makes Miss Kentucky the Spokesperson for Kentucky Ag. Rodriguez shared with fifth graders how they utilize things based on farmers and ag every single day, from gas to clothes to food.
Rodriguez connected to students on a more personal level as she shared her story of growing up in foster care and facing homelessness. She now has a nonprofit that provides suitcases to foster kids.
“So, The Lucky Ones Foundation has a wide variety of initiatives, our two main, initiatives are the Suitcase Project. We collect suitcases for children in foster care who are typically given a trash bag when they enter the system “says Rodriguez.
Rodriguez goes on to share she also has a podcast sharing some of the hardships foster kids go through.
Transformed: From Foster Care to Miss Kentucky with Ariana Rodriguez | The Foster Friendly Podcast
