A student pets a cow during the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow’s 2021 Farmers Share event. Credit: Kamryn Kreis
Kelsey Newell said she thought her day couldn’t get any stranger after seeing a cow on The Oval.
The cow’s visit promoted Farmers Share, an annual event hosted in the fall semester by Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow — a student organization to promote discussions and interest in agriculture communication— to showcase the farming industry through agriculture-related activities. Farmers Share will be held Thursday from 2-5 p.m. on the northeast end of The Oval.
“My initial thought was that it was such a strange [sight] on campus, but once I processed it, I was super excited,” Newell, a 2022 graduate in biology, said. “I thought she looked super soft, and it should be an annual thing.”
Annie Specht, advisor of ACT, said in an email Farmers Share came about as an idea in 2015 from Jordan Bonham Rasmussen, the career development and communications assistant at the time who knew most of the Ohio State community was unfamiliar with the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
“She wanted to plan something that would introduce central campus students to CFAES, since not many of them had chances to ‘cross the river,’” Specht said.
Specht said the event was hosted for the first time in April 2015 on the Wexner Center Plaza.
“ACT offered a free breakfast, there were live sheep and chickens, Buckeye Bessie the milking cow was there, and as well as tractors for students to sit in,” Specht said.
Elizabeth Strine, a fourth-year in community leadership and a member of ACT’s planning committee, said in an email the event later moved to Waterman Dairy Center on Carmack Road, so ACT could showcase agriculture on the CFAES campus.
“The dairy facility was a great way to show off the CFAES campus, because students were able to tour the facility,” Strine said.
However, the event is now on The Oval, a decision made in 2021 to make it more visible and accessible to Ohio State students, Strine said. Thursday’s event will include milking a cow, planting flowers and learning about how agriculture impacts people’s daily lives, according to ACL’s Facebook.
Specht said ACT hopes the event creates more awareness and understanding for how valuable agriculture is to students’ daily lives, no matter their major.
“We really want students at Ohio State to gain an appreciation for CFAES and to learn about Ohio agriculture,” Specht said.
