- I'm at Food and Farm Exploration Center in Plover,
discovering how technology is advancing
how we grow the food we eat.
Executive Director Alexandria Behrend shares
what's being cultivated here.
- Alexandria Behrend: So, the mission
of Food and Farm Exploration Center
is to teach current and future generations about agriculture,
where their food is grown, and those who grow it,
and just connect those dots of appreciation.
- I love that.
And how does that connect to collaborations
within the community?
- Alexandria: Central Sands of Wisconsin
is where we're located right now,
which is a beautiful place to grow many of our focus crops.
So, the soil is exactly right to grow potatoes,
peas, corn, cabbage, a couple others.
And so, we're just really bringing homage
to those family farms in the area.
- And what makes Food and Farm Exploration Center so unique,
and what do you want people to take away from their time here?
- We have probably one of the coolest experiences
that families can have.
We have 60 interactive exhibits that are available
for people from age 2 to age 92.
You get to get in and simulate driving a tractor
in a potato field or a carrot field,
and we have four demonstration fields right out our back door.
But what we do is we really introduce students
at young ages,
really take them through the whole process of farm to food.
- Absolutely.
'Cause you hear terms like "farm to table,"
but we don't always know what that means,
especially at a large scale.
So, I appreciate you all breaking that down
and hoping that that has a long-term impact
in how these young people think about kind of food
and where it comes from, and what it means for them.
- Yeah, thank you.
- Angela: I was off to explore the Ag Lab,
starting from the ground up.
- Brittany Marquard: We're gonna look
at different soil types
and why those soils are so important
to production agriculture in Wisconsin.
- Angela: We tested each soil...
- But with a sandy type of a soil, once we get it wet,
it's really not gonna hold much together.
- Angela: ...Observing their differences.
It's going to adhere more to the water.
- And now, if you tried to kind of bounce this one,
you should be able to get a little bounce out of it
without it completely falling apart.
- Yes, it has better integrity.
- Exactly.
- Angela: And how it all connects back to the food
we grow in our state.
- Brittany: So, in Wisconsin, our state soil
is the Antigo silt loam,
and so, silty soil, loamy type soil has the best properties
of sand, silt, and clay components in it
that make it ideal for growing.
- What are some of the reactions you see from the youth
or others that engage in this activity?
- So, this activity is one of my favorite activities,
especially with the littles because one of the things,
like, we all are exposed to soil at some point in time.
And we always joke, dirt's a dirty word around here.
We don't use dirt.
We're talking soil.
This is soil, this has a purpose, this has a plan.
But they love that component of getting their hands dirty,
feeling it, and really putting that to knowledge.
- Angela: We moved on from dirt--
or should I say, soil--
to creating culinary concoctions in the Kitchen Lab.
So we get to taste-test? - Brittany: You bet we do.
- It's good. - Awesome.
- Angela: Whether it's getting creative in a lab
or playing to learn,
Food and Farm Innovation Center connects us to the food we grow
and the farmers who grow it.
[bright music]