In one classroom, a little boy sat and listened as a man in cowboy boots read. He showed the students the pictures on each page as he read about Hereford steers and auctioneers. He leaned closer to inspect an illustration of a sale barn with ring men taking bids. He had never heard of buying cows on a phone and his eyes widened as the man reached into his shirt pocket, pulled up the sale in Sterling, and filled the room with the sound of auctioneer Jason Santomaso selling cattle 100 miles away.

In another classroom, a little girl listened to a woman read about a farmer turned soldier who helped pick peaches and others who were far from home, working in the fields, who felt the kindness of the family farmer employing them. She heard the woman speak about kindness and recipes that taste like home. Later, she took a small cup of peach juice in her hands, took a sip and could picture the crates of fresh and fuzzy peaches on a hoopie.

In another classroom, a little girl listened closely to how a wool fleece floated like a jellyfish when it was thrown on the skirting table, leaving the ewe cooler and more comfortable. When the story described the herder keeping the sheep safe as a mountain lion screamed in the dark, she could understand the importance of caretakers. When she held a tree cookie and could smell the forest where the sheep spend their summers, she longed to see the woolly wave of trotting ewes through the towns on the way back to the ranch.

The Ag in the Classroom project is arguably one of the most important programs in schools. It is a national effort, and the Colorado Foundation for Agriculture coordinates the volunteers, classrooms and materials in our state. The program is free and includes a copy of the book selected that year, a program guide, content and activity guides for educators, Google slides of the book and a poster contest for students. Annually, the program is presented in more than 500 classrooms and reaches 10,000 students and their teachers.

Volunteers from the agriculture community are paired with schools, read the story, answer questions and even speak about their own operation and knowledge of the industry. Each book has accompanying materials – samples of wool or tastes of Colorado peach juice – that allow students to experience the industry even if in just a tiny bite.

For some students, this could be the first farmer or rancher they’ve met. For others, he or she may remind them of a neighbor or a grandpa who farmed. No matter how they relate to agriculture, the industry feeds and clothes them and makes consumers of us all. Reaching out to students and educators to include agriculture in their classrooms is vitally important, especially as the divide between rural and urban communities deepens.

Perhaps students who learn about agriculture from experts will think back to the positive experiences and knowledge they gained when they’re faced with anti-ag sentiment. Perhaps they’ll be less likely to buy into anti-agriculture propaganda. Perhaps they’ll speak in support of the industry rather than remaining silent until the consequences rear their ugly head at the bottom of their grocery store receipt. Perhaps they’ll just giggle knowing without agriculture they would be naked – and roll their eyes the next time someone suggests that chocolate milk comes from brown cows.

Anti-agriculture or even just inaccurate ag messages are hurled at kids in cartoons and commercials. Fern’s uncle was the antagonist for his plans to butcher Wilbur; Bambi was personified, and wildlife flourished only with complete lack of human involvement; Ferdinand the bull peeks at a nightmarish meat processing plant and ultimately lives out his existence without making a trip there; and most frustrating of all may be how Otis the bull walked on two legs with an udder between his legs. Poor bull.

In Colorado, we capitalized on both our state’s incredibly diverse ag industry, rich history and an ag writer in a season of life that involves nightly bedtime stories and the willingness to pen a few. This spring, Ag in the Classroom volunteers will head into classrooms with The Woolly Way: Papou and the Story of Lantern Ridge. The story combines the history of the Theos family in the sheep business, trailing sheep between the desert and forest grazing allotments, predators, shearing, range workers, arborglyphs and the benefits of grazing. I’m hoping the experience will spark an ability to spot a wolf in sheep’s clothing and at least a basic understanding of the world’s most important industry.

Rachel Gabel writes about agriculture and rural issues. She is assistant editor of The Fence Post Magazine, the region’s preeminent agriculture publication. Gabel is a daughter of the state’s oil and gas industry and a member of one of the state’s 12,000 cattle-raising families, and she has authored children’s books used in hundreds of classrooms to teach students about agriculture.