If you got dressed and ate breakfast this morning, you have
some farm’s finest in you
and probably on you. But how much do you know about agriculture?
Visitors to the Georgia
National Fair in Perry, Ga., can find out how much they know
in the daily Ag U Quiz
Bowl.
“It’s a fun way to learn about a very serious subject,” said
Willie Chance, a Houston
County Extension Service agent
who helped run the first Ag U Quiz Bowl in last year’s fair.
The quiz show is sponsored by the University
of Georgia College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences and the Georgia National Fair.
The fair is Oct. 9-18.
Fair visitors will have a dozen chances to get in on the quiz
bowl fun, with three
daily showings Oct. 12-15. The shows will be at 2, 4 and 6 p.m.
each day inside the
fairground’s Heritage Hall.
At each show, a CAES professor will provide some fascinating
facts about agriculture in
an entertaining lecture.
Visitors will learn the basics, like the fact that
agriculture accounts for one in
every six jobs in Georgia and generates $39 billion, or 16
percent of the state’s economic
output.
But they’ll also get a quick review of Georgia farm history
and some fun facts like:
* The state’s farmers grow enough peanuts for every Georgian to get 187 pounds of peanut butter every year. “But we spread it around,” Chance said.
* More people die from insect bites than snake bites.
Mosquitoes and the diseases they carry will probably kill 1 million people this year.
After the lecture, Chance said, four people in the audience
get to be contestants in
the quiz bowl. They’ll compete for Ag U degrees by answering
questions covered in the
lecture. The winner will get the “doctor of ag facts” degree.
Runners-up will
get “farm foreman” degrees, while the losing contestant will be
declared a
“city slicker.”
Actually, all four will get some nice prizes — all Georgia
farm products such as
cotton T-shirts, peanuts and coupons for free eggs.
“We have a good time,” Chance said. “We try to make it as fun
and
entertaining as we can. While we’re having fun, though, we try
to let everyone leave with
a little more knowledge about the importance of agriculture in
Georgia.”
