Mobile ag classroom brings virtual farm experience to Georgia students

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. - Students at Michelle Obama STEM Elementary Academy enjoyed a day of agricultural exploration. 

The young scholars boarded the Georgia Ag Experience mobile classroom for a virtual field trip on Monday. 

The Georgia Farm Bureau's Georgia Foundation for Agriculture created the program to introduce local school children to the agricultural field, and to highlight how the state's largest industry grows food, trees, cotton and other essential resources. 

"This is some helpful information that we have to share to get out to the students," Georgia Farm Bureau spokesperson Denise Johnson told FOX 5's Deidra Dukes. "They get to learn about certain careers in agriculture, how their food grows, where their meat comes from. This is the exposure we are trying to give them." 

One in seven people in Georgia is employed in the agricultural field, but less than 2% of the population lives on a farm. 

The mobile classroom travels the state, educating elementary school students about the ag industry through the use of technology and digital learning. 

"I know that in the modern day there are many opportunities that you can have, and we also found out that Georgia is one of the top states, agriculture, that you can get the most money from that," student Cori Smith explained. 

Students at the Hampton school grow gardens on campus, and a greenhouse is in the works. 

Principal Marcia Payton welcomed the opportunity to partner with the Georgia Farm Bureau for the experience. 

"We decided to partner with Georgia Farm Bureau in order to give our students an additional experience with those careers that you can also receive from learning about agriculture and taking part in STEM," Payton explained.