Institute of Applied Agriculture Student Services Coordinator Christina Lorenz won a Maryland Agriculture Council grant to present an agriculture awareness project on the University of Maryland College Park Campus. Recognized at the Taste of Maryland Agriculture on February 5, Lorenz is excited to bring leadership and advocacy opportunities to Maryland’s agriculture students.
In part, Lorenz based her proposal on I Love Farmers… They Feed My Soul, an all-volunteer movement among young people who are passionate about creating conversations about agriculture with their non-agriculture peers. She believes that bringing this movement to Maryland will encourage students to share agriculture’s story.
This first step takes place in March. Lorenz will conduct a workshop for UMD students and FFA student leaders to effectively communicate the story of American agriculture. The goal of the workshop is to empower students to create dialogue with other young people about the origins of their food.
The second step will occur in April when the students set up a display at Maryland Day titled, “Where’s the Food . . . Without the Farmer.” These students, who have been trained in agriculture advocacy, will share information about agriculture with the tens of thousands of visitors who come to campus that day.
“I believe this program will provide knowledge to thousands of people and it will enable us to give University of Maryland students the tools to be better life-long advocates for the agriculture industry. We plan to make this an annual project and hope it will gain popularity on campus year after year,” says Lorenz.
After earning her Master of Science in Agricultural Education from Oregon State University, Christina taught high school agricultural sciences and technology teacher. She joined the IAA team in July 2014 and works directly with student recruitment and communication. She is a passionate advocate for agriculture.
The Maryland Agriculture Council, Inc. is a business league comprised of persons, firms, or corporations engaged in the business of buying, selling, using, storing, producing and processing agricultural products or by-products. Each year the Maryland Agriculture Council provides grants for the purpose of promoting Maryland agriculture.
