Coop to Plate: Growing Youth & Chickens in the Same Mission
4-H and Youth Programming
Alicia Halbritter
Agriculture & Natural Resources Agent
UF/IFAS Baker County Extension
Macclenny
Abstract
The average American is at least three generations removed from agriculture and 34% of the population doesn’t even have a pet at home, leading to a large disconnect between youth and animal agriculture. However, the Baker County agriculture agent and 4-H youth development agent recognized that there is a developing interest in where food comes from and producing your own food at home, striking up an idea for a youth-centered program. Ten youth were given the opportunity to each take five meat-type birds home and raise them on their own for 8 weeks, coming back as a group on processing day to learn how to harvest their birds. Many of these families had limited experience with animals, therefore the agents developed an in-depth online course for them to follow along and learn at their own pace. The online course consisted of an introduction and 8 educational modules with text, videos, and interactive quizzes to monitor participation and knowledge gain. This course not only gave them the necessary information to complete the project, but also exposed them to other agriculture topics, like the commercial chicken industry, raising meat birds for profit, and alternative meat poultry. The last module, processing your birds, prepared the youth for harvest day, exposing them to what the process will look like and the steps they will participate in. The agents and many volunteers helped lead the youth during harvest, teaching them not only the steps involved in processing but also PPE, food safety, knife safety, and more. Youth completed a project book to outline their cost per pound of meat compared to the grocery store products in addition to describing the lessons learned from the project. Coop to Plate is expanding in 2024 with 25 participants, returning participants will serve as mentors for new youth on processing day. Although this is a youth-centered project, the agents noticed that the adults were heavily involved, often learning themselves how to raise the meat birds and process them, this has spurred the development of future adult-centered classes on raising and processing meat birds.
Authors: Alicia Halbritter, Shaina Spann
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Alicia Halbritter Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent, University of Florida, Florida, 32063
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Shaina Spann 4-H Youth Development Agent, University of Florida, Florida, 32063