COFFEE COUNTY, Ga. (WALB) - Students at Eastside Elementary School are getting a firsthand look at where their food, clothing, and everyday products come from, thanks to a visit from the Georgia Ag Experience mobile classroom.

Elementary teacher Angie Reinhardt says she applied for the program after seeing a similar visit featured on WALB News 10. “I saw an interview on WALB where you all went to another school, and I said we have to have that at Eastside,” Reinhardt said. “We have to have that for our students too.”

Reinhardt says the experience helps close what she sees as a growing disconnect between children and the origins of everyday necessities.

“There seems to be a disconnect between our food supply and where we get our clothing from,” she said. “Agriculture is the leading industry in the state of Georgia, and it’s super important for our children to understand where things come from and learn to appreciate it.”

Reinhardt says the application process for the grant was simple and encourages other schools to take advantage of the opportunity.

“The kids will be the motivation,” she said. “When you see how much fun they’re having and how much they’re learning, that’s what makes you want to do it.”

The mobile classroom is part of the Georgia Ag Experience, an educational program funded by the Georgia Foundation for Agriculture and Georgia Farm Bureau.

Educational Programs Manager Caroline Leonhard says the goal is to increase agricultural literacy among students, especially as fewer Americans are directly involved in farming.

“Less than two percent of the U.S. population is directly involved in production agriculture,” Leonhard said. “Not all of these students are going to become farmers, but they are going to be consumers. It’s important to build a generation of informed consumers.”

Leonhard says agriculture impacts nearly every part of daily life. From food and clothing to housing and technology and believes those lessons extend beyond the classroom. “We want students to go home and tell their parents what they learned,” she said. “Agriculture provides a safe food supply, the clothes you wear, and the house you live in. It touches everything you do.”

Leonhard, who grew up on a cow-calf farm in middle Georgia and previously taught high school agriculture, says supporting locally grown agriculture is critical for both economic and national security reasons.

“It vitalizes the economy and helps people connect with farmers they know and trust,” she said. “It also reduces the need to move food across the country, which is incredibly important.” She says seeing students engage with agriculture for the first time is what keeps her passionate about the work.

“When children realize that agriculture truly touches everything they do, that’s my favorite moment,” Leonhard said.

The Georgia Ag Experience mobile classroom has now visited all 159 counties in Georgia and continues working to reach third through fifth-grade students across the state. Educators at Eastside Elementary say the experience leaves a lasting impression, one that helps students better understand the role agriculture plays in their everyday lives.

WALB’s Taylor Lewis shows how the mobile classroom is connecting students to agriculture

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