Life on a farm was in the forefront of students’ minds Wednesday during the annual Great AGVenture held at the Paso Robles Event Center.

The Great AGVenture, now in its sixth year, is put on by the Agriculture Education Committee, a nonprofit group that was originally started by the San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau.

The Great AGVenture is open to fourth-graders throughout SLO County. Each class goes through five different stations dealing with farm machinery, plants and crops, science, farm animals and an AG-tivity. Wednesday’s event featured 52 presenters and was expected to draw 1,200 SLO County fourth-graders, more than 50 teachers and more than 200 parents.

“The idea is to show students what it’s like on a farm,” said Lorraine Clark, coordinator for the Agriculture Education Committee. “This shows students that everybody is connected to agriculture.”

Over the first five years, the event has drawn 6,200 fourth-graders, Clark said. Students came from Pat Butler, Kermit King, Winifred Pifer, Bauer/Speck and Virginia Peterson elementary schools in Paso Robles, Vineyard Elementary School in Templeton, Lillian Larsen and Cappy Culver elementary schools in San Miguel, St. Rose, North County Christian, Trinity Lutheran, Santa Margarita Elementary School and Santa Rosa, San Gabriel, San Benito and Monterey Road elementary schools in Atascadero.

The event is completely free to schools and is paid for by event sponsors, Clark said.

The cost is estimated to be approximately $250 per class. This year’s sponsors included Estrella Ranch, Bejo Seeds, the Paso Robles Agri-Business Committee, Coastal Research Services, Amigos de Los Ninos, JB Dewar, Farm Credit West, Farm Supply, Roy and Roberta Parsons, Craig Held, Jon and Blanch Comino, Castaneda and Sons and SLO County.

In addition to committee members and guest presenters, the event was facilitated through volunteer support from students at Cal Poly and in the FFA program at Arroyo Grande High School, the SLO County CattleWomen’s Association, the SLO County Sheriff’s Posse and the San Miguel Lions Club, who helped prepare a barbecue lunch.

Spread throughout the Event Center, the Great AGVenture gave students a taste of a number of different aspects of farm life. Ray Pesenti and Joe Costa provided students an antique small-engine demonstration. Both are members of the Early Days Gas Engine Tractor Association, Branch 27, and had a number of different small engines up and running for students.

“A lot of these kids don’t know what it was like [for farmers] a long time ago,” Pesenti said. “This [event] is about letting kids appreciate agriculture and see how these things work.”

Bob and Norma Walters, of Walters Ranch in San Miguel, were demonstrating meat goats and wool. Norma said her favorite part of the event was seeing students’ reactions.

“The enthusiasm of the kids is great,” she said. “Everybody’s got a smile on their face.”

LaVon Bello, who was showing her Nubian goats with Julie McCulloch, said one of her favorite parts of participating in the Great AGVenture is the thank you letters she receives from students following the event.

“It’s a great adventure for those students who don’t have animals at home,” she said. “Most of these kids live in town and have only seen these animals in pictures. They love interacting with them and feeding them.”

Exposing students to something new is what the AGVenture is all about.

“There’s all kinds of learning styles, but one style is hands-on, and this is hands-on,” Clark said. “That’s why the kids get so excited about it. It’s fun, educational and it’s so important.”