Hungry and naked.  That’s where we’d be without agriculture.

Most of the USD 489 fourth-graders attending Kids Ag Day have no idea what that means.  They do now.

Thursday’s 15th annual Kids Ag Day at the at the Harold Kraus Farm south of Hays, included information about sunflowers, corn, soybeans and wheat, along with the farm equipment it takes to plant and harvest those crops.

At least two of the 23 Lincoln Grade School fourth-graders are living on a working farm, according to their teacher Amanda Callahan.  Most have never been in the country.

” It’s a fantastic learning experience for all the class, and even me,” she laughs.

This is Callahan’s third year to take her fourth-grade class to Kids Ag Day, hosted by the Ellis County Farm Bureau Association.

Landowner Harold Kraus, a longtime farmer and former Kansas Soybean Commission board member, demonstrated a rain simulator which depicts soil erosion.

“That’s one of the first science lessons we’re studying in class,” says Callahan.

“Seeing the ground actually erode in this demonstration brings the lecture to life.  The kids can better understand the concept and will remember it longer.”

See more tonight on Hays Post Eagle Community TV Channel 14.