Photo by Deb Gau SMSU agronomy professor Adam Alford gave kids at the university’s new Agriculture Camp program a rundown of the different parts of a tractor and how they worked. On Tuesday afternoon, campers also toured the SMSU research plot and got to do some hands-on soil testing.

MARSHALL — It was a new twist on summer camp. On Tuesday afternoon, kids gathered around as Adam Alford, assistant professor of agronomy at Southwest Minnesota State University, showed them different parts of a tractor used at SMSU’s agronomy research plots.

“So, what can tractors be used for?” Alford asked the group. Quite a few campers’ hands shot up in response.

“If you have a bucket on it, it can be used to clean out pens,” one camper said.

“You can put a mower behind it,” said another.

Learning about equipment like tractors and drones was just one of the activities area youth got to do this week as part of SMSU’s new Agriculture Camp. The three-day event brought kids ages 10-14 to tour different agriculture-related businesses, and get some hands-on learning.

A total of 23 kids signed up for the first-ever Ag Camp.

“I think it’s tremendous,” said Gerald Toland, chair of agriculture, culinology and hospitality management at SMSU. Organizers hope to be able to continue to offer the program in the future, he said.

Toland said Ag Camp grew out of conversations between area businesspeople and university supporters and Raphael Onyeaghala, dean of the College of Busines, Education, Graduate and Professional Studies at SMSU. The idea was to start with a smaller event, like a day camp, to help get youth interested in agriculture, Toland said.

A big part of Ag Camp was visits to area businesses covering different aspects of agriculture, from farming to veterinary science and food production. On Monday, campers got to tour Lingen Dairy, and the Agnition greenhouse in Balaton.

“We basically had the scientists there giving the tour,” Toland said. On Tuesday morning, the group toured the Schwan’s specialty food plant to learn more about how ingredients produced on farms are used to make food on a larger scale.

“We ended up eating quesadillas because that was the (production) line we saw,” Toland said.

Later on Tuesday, the kids headed out to the SMSU research plot, and did some soil testing with members of the Natural Resources Conservation Service. After helping to hammer metal rings into the ground, campers like Luca Oduo and Cami Neyens poured water into the rings, and watched how quickly the soil absorbed the moisture.

On a spot in one of the no-till field plots, the water disappeared in seconds. Meanwhile, soil closer to the packed field approaches took longer to absorb the water.

Campers said they were having fun with Ag Camp.

“I like it,” said Archer Deutz.

“I liked going to Lingen Dairy and getting to see the cows,” said Ava Buysse.

There’s a lot of technology involved in milking the cows and keeping track of their health, added camper Kalli Neyens.

“We saw how the new technology works with the cows,” she said. “There are robots. And they have little Fitbits on the cows’ necks to see if they’re feeling good.” The collars helped monitor cows for signs of illness.

As part of their visit to the SMSU research plot, campers even got a chance to pick their own zucchini from the vegetable patch.

“I’m going to give some to my grandma, and she’ll make zucchini bread,” said Colton Buysse.