RICHMOND—Virginia’s Agriculture in the Classroom program has set a record for teacher workshop participation. A total of 2,188 educators attended 102 workshops during the 2011-2012 school year, and many more utilized lesson plans on the AITC website.

“We enjoyed working with a record-setting number of educators and hope that they received many new ideas for incorporating the study of agriculture into their classrooms,” said Lynn Black, AITC education program coordinator. “We’re just starting our new year and look forward to working with even more educators and helping them teach their students about where food and fiber come from.”

The workshops help preschool and elementary school teachers earn credit hours toward recertification. Elementary education students also attend workshops as part of their coursework at 13 universities across the state.

The workshops and lesson plans are made possible by more than $300,000 in donations to the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom.

“These contributions were made by individuals, corporations, agricultural organizations and private foundations, and the generosity of their support enables AITC to provide quality programs and continue to develop new and interesting resources that meet the needs of educators across Virginia,” said Karen Davis, executive director for the foundation. “All workshops and lesson plans are provided at no cost to teachers and school divisions, and we’re continually able to offer teachers more and more each year, thanks to an increase in giving.”

Preliminary reports show donations increased by at least 5 percent over the past 12 months, and support for an annual Virginia Farm Bureau golf tournament that benefits AITC increased by 41 percent.

“We also saw positive growth among individual giving and gifts from county Farm Bureaus and corporations,” Davis said, “but Farm Bureau’s Women’s Program participants remain AITC's most generous supporters, giving $46,888 through state and county committees in our recently ended fiscal year."

For more information on AITC, visit AgInTheClass.org.

Contact Davis at 804-290-1142.