Pa. ag secretary joins Latrobe Elementary students for Unity farm tour

Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding’s day in the office Friday took him back to his childhood.

Alongside Latrobe Elementary School kindergartners and Valley School of Ligonier first graders, Redding took a tour of the Pleasant Lane Farms creamery and dairy barn in Unity.

“I’m much like the kindergartner,” Redding said. “My role is very simple. It’s just to come out and witness this farm’s hosting of the school children.”

Pleasant Lane Farms is a seventh-generation farm. Partner and head cheesemaker Jason Frye said the farm offers tours on a regular basis. He said the goal of Friday’s tour was to teach the children about where their food comes from at an “age-appropriate level,” with the hope of having them come back as they get older.

“There are parents that will come back with their kids and say, ‘I remember when I did a field trip here when I was a kid,’ ” Frye said. “It’s a very generational thing.”

The students arrived on the farm about 9 a.m. and began rotating through 12 stations that explained the dairy production process. These activities included learning about how the cows are fed, milked and cared for by a veterinarian. Farm employees demonstrated how various machinery around the dairy barn is used, including the robotic milking parlor.

The children also were able to meet some of the calves and goats, as well as taste the cheese and ice cream produced at the farm.

Latrobe Elementary kindergarten teacher Marian Ferlin said the teachers made sure to incorporate lessons about agriculture into their curriculum in the weeks leading up to the field trip.

Redding said he appreciated how well-prepared the students were for the tour.

“I was here probably five minutes, and it was obvious that these students and the teachers are doing a lot of preparatory work to make this day really meaningful. They were talking about the breeds of cows. They were telling me about red and white Holsteins,” he said.

Ferlin of Unity said her students watched various videos about farming, read agriculture-related stories as part of Ag Literacy Week in March and incubated chicks in the spring.

“(We want the kids) to learn the importance of farms in our community and country and also the knowledge of where milk and food comes from,” Ferlin said. “So many of our students don’t have that background. A lot of them, if you ask them, ‘Where does milk come from?,’ they’ll say ‘Giant Eagle or Walmart.’ ”

Ferlin added that she also hoped to instill in her students “the core values and the work ethic that comes from farm life,” and expose them to the various career opportunities in agriculture.

She found joy in watching her students engage in the activities.

“I’m just very happy that the children get excited about this, and it’s fun watching them,” Ferlin said. “It’s very exciting watching them actively engaged.”