That question and many more are being answered for high school agriculture education teachers from around the state in town Tuesday and today for inservice training. The 235 teachers are on the campus of the Agricultural Technical Institute for the annual Agriculture Tech Update, sponsored jointly by The Ohio Sate University and the Ohio Department of Education.
Classes also explore other areas, including horticulture, food production and small animal care.
Just with other facets of education, agriculture is an ever-changing field, with new technology and new stresses from the state as well as demands from the outside world hiring the students teachers are teaching. Teachers in the class had varying reasons for picking the session among the 48 they can choose. Another teacher was a little more specific. Peg McMahon, a professor in OSU's department of horticulture and crop science, gave the class some practical tips for creating and managing a student greenhouse, beginning with a little physics. Mother Nature abhors a vacuum.