Emma Knodel is the new president of the school’s ag club
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A student club at an Alberta college is dedicated to agriculture.
The Lethbridge College Students’ Association’s Aggies Club works to promote ag at the school and throughout the community. It also aims to bring ag students closer and strengthen relationships through club activity.
The 75-member club provides great opportunities for others interested in ag to meet and network, said Club President Emma Knodel.
“We provide benefits like networking and job opportunities, invitations to our events and tours to local farms and businesses,” Knodel, a second-year agronomy student who grew up on a grain farm near Lethbridge, told Farms.com. “We volunteer around the community too.”
Part of the group’s community involvement includes education.
COVID interrupted the club’s plans to do presentations in elementary schools, but it recently held an educational day on March 22.
Passersby had the opportunity to look at livestock and equipment, and engage with producers.
Visitors included international students who aren’t familiar with Canadian ag, Knodel said.
“Ag here is so much different than in other parts of the world, so it was really cool to see the size of equipment we have here,” she said. “We also had students who’ve never been around livestock before, come and visit with the animals. It’s incredibly important to have events like these to close information gaps and bridge rural and urban communities.”
The big takeaway from the event, Knodel says, is how ubiquitous agriculture is in life.
Many visitors didn’t know how many aspects of everyday life agriculture is involved with, she said.
“Agriculture is involved in everything you do,” she said. “The food you eat, the clothes you wear and the football you throw with your friends, all of those items started on a farm. I think when some people see the finished product, they don’t think about the steps it took to get to that item. And most of the time, step one is on the farm.”