Now that week three is winding down, the students have become immersed in their first electives and their major courses. Today, food science majors were exposed to a wide range of future careers within the food industry. On the other hand, animal science majors took a field trip to the V Livestock Judging Pavilion where they learned how to properly handle cattle, sheep, and swine. Some skills students learned included: sheep “flipping” and herding cattle. Further, agricultural economics majors were put into a simulated pollution-reduction exercise. During this simulation, students were divided into firms, each with an accountant and a negotiator, setting up a marketplace where they traded nitrogen allowances and kept track of their financials in an effort to meet their goals. This was intended to replicate the real world applications of economics in the agricultural sector. Next, agricultural engineering learned about the utilities of satellites, particularly the application of Lidar software in the field. That is, Lidar can be used to determine aspects of forest and environmental health. Lastly, plant science majors continued their learning of the proper techniques to care for different varieties of turfgrass and the application of turfgrass in a commercial sense.

Adib Choudhury, Arthur Shune, Nicole Bain, Nidhi Patel, Mary Wooddell