MOUNT OLIVE — Over 2,500 high school students, advisors, vendors, and volunteers from the North Carolina mountains to the coast, as well as some from South Carolina and Virginia 
converged on the University of Mount Olive campus on Thursday for the ninth annual AgFrest.

The festival-style event featured educational booths, various games, fun activities, live music, and food trucks.

Exhibitors were on hand to talk with students about farm-related services and technologies including precision ag, livestock management, forestry, conservation, crop production, and greenhouse management.

Attendees participated in hands-on learning experiences in production agriculture, animal science, horticulture, landscaping, wildlife, forestry, and natural resources, provided by some of the largest agribusinesses in the region. 

Southern Wayne student Hayden Waller’s interest in agriculture is focused on livestock. Although he’s undecided on how agriculture fits into his future, Waller enjoyed learning more about livestock during AgFest.

“We just learned about the four stomachs of a cow,” Waller said. “That was really interesting. Animals are my favorite part of agriculture and just learning about them.”

For those students with interests outside the field of agriculture, there were demonstrations and booths highlighting education, biology, math, physics, and more.  Numerous food booths were on-site featuring Got to Be NC Products.

University of Mount Olive student Lucas Drame, who was volunteering in UMO’s Ag booth at the event, was encouraged by the interest in agriculture he sees from the next generation. 

“So many farmers now are 60 or older,” Drame said. “If you don’t invest in the next generation of farmers, what are we going to rely on in the future? These students here today are the future of agriculture.” 

The event is the largest the University of Mount Olive has hosted to promote agriculture awareness in eastern North Carolina and beyond