County Farm Bureau Cancels Annual Field Trip

File photo.

Due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19, the Maui County Farm Bureau and its board of directors officially announced the cancelation of its annual “Agriculure in the Classroom” field trip for second graders, which was scheduled for April 16 and 17 at Haleakalā Ranch. 

“In the interest of health and safety for the students, teachers, chaperones, and agriculture educators, cancelling the field trip was the right decision,” said Warren K. Watanabe, executive director, Maui County Farm Bureau. 

MCFB’s field trip reaches more than 1,000 second graders, approximately 100 teachers and chaperones, and 30 agriculture educators from Bayer, College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources Master Gardeners, Haleakala Ranch’s Livestock and Conservation Divisions, Hawaiian Electric with Executive Chef Troy Guard of ‘Opihi (a new restaurant scheduled to open in Wailea Village in fall 2020), and Maui Soil & Water Conservation Districts. Haleakala Ranch’s team includes conservation partners from the Division of Forestry and Wildlife, Haleakala National Park, East Maui Watershed Partnership, West Maui Mountains Watershed Partnership, Maui Invasive Species Committee, Leeward Haleakala Watershed Restoration Partnership, and The Nature Conservancy. 

MCFB will continue its Agriculture in the Classroom program in fall 2020 with in-class presentations leading into the field trip at Haleakalā Ranch in April 2021.  

Agriculture in the Classroom is a seven-month series of in-class farmer presentations and on-the-farm field activities, titled “Where Would We Be Without Seeds” and designed around the life cycle of plants. Ag in the Classroom was developed for second-graders of any public, private, or charter school willing to participate.

MCFB visits more than 20 schools throughout the school year to implement the in-class lesson plan and more than 1,000 students attend the end of year field trip at Haleakalā Ranch. This field trip is an opportunity for Maui second graders to visit a working cattle ranch to spend the day studying outdoors with agriculture educators and kids from around the island.