Every spring, as many as 1,000 volunteers visit Virginia classrooms and read books about agriculture to more than 50,000 children.

It’s all part of the Virginia Agriculture in the Classroom program’s agriculture literacy project, Agriculture Literacy Week, which will be celebrated March 6-10.

This year volunteers will read Sleep Tight Farm, a children’s book by Eugenie Doyle that shows readers what happens on a farm throughout the seasons and helps them see how farmers work to provide safe, healthy food all year long.

“This is our largest volunteer event of the year,” said Tammy Maxey, Virginia AITC senior education manager. “We are expecting more than 1,000 volunteers to participate and read to children across the commonwealth.” AITC also will provide an educator guide for teachers and volunteers, along with reading comprehension and art activities. The materials are meant to help foster conversation about agriculture with children as they learn how farmers produce food and other basic needs.

Volunteers in recent years have included participants in the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation Women’s Program and Young Farmers Program, FFA members, employees of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and other state agencies, and members of other agricultural organizations and businesses. Farm Credit of the Virginias and Southern States Cooperative Inc. have been major supporters as well.