BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The Fall Harvest is back with the best of both worlds: animals and candy.
The Future Farmers of America held its annual event for the first time on Halloween, teaching young ones all the basics of farm life while they had fun dressing up.
“We have all types of boards to learn about,” said Andrew Chow with Future Farmers of America. “We actually have from carrots to how cotton candy grapes are made GMO, and definitely forklifts, which is right behind us. Every student here at Highland is almost forklift certified.”
Five hundred FFA students showed their presentation to around 400 visiting students –an important task for Chow, who still remembers falling in love with farming when he attended the Fall Harvests as a kid.
“I would say probably close to 50% of our students find some aspect of agriculture that they interest in, that they’ll go into,” said Amber Carter with the Agricultural Department of Highland High School. “And that can range from mechanics, and even if they’re a diesel mechanic, we still consider that to be a part of the ag industry. All the way to my students that are the traditional ‘I’ve wanted to be a vet my whole life, so this is what I want to do.'”
Carter says the latest generations have a lack of knowledge on where our food comes from.
“Ag is embedded with every other industry that we have here in the county,” said Carter. “And so, whether you work in the oil fields, whether you are working in an office downtown, it doesn’t really matter what sub industry you are part of — ag touches every place and everything that we do. The vehicle you drive and the clothing that you’re wearing, not just the food that you eat.”
