Purdue Ag Week has officially begun! As I mentioned in my last post, Purdue Ag Week is a campus-wide initiative at Purdue University that encourages meaningful peer-to-peer conversations about agriculture. Over 25 College of Agriculture student clubs are working to inspire others to See What Ag Gives by hosting interactive events this week across campus.

Purdue’s Collegiate FFA kicked off the week’s festivities with a Farmer 5K Run/Walk to raise awareness about agriculture and the unfortunate reality of food insecurity. It was a success! The event raised $720 for a new Food Finders Food Bank school pantry that will help feed school children during the summer and help battle food insecurity in the Lafayette area. Great work everyone!

Milk Monday: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. (Memorial Mall)
The next event on the schedule is Milk Monday! Hosted by the Purdue Dairy Club, Milk Monday highlights facts about the dairy industry and promotes the nutritional benefits of dairy products by providing students with free grilled cheese sandwiches. The Dairy Club plans to give out 1,000 grilled cheese sandwiches on Memorial Mall around lunchtime. (Seriously, who doesn’t love a good grilled cheese? Can you guys deliver one to my office?)

This event always holds a special place in my heart, because when I was a senior at Purdue, we (Ag Communicators of Tomorrow) partnered with the Dairy Club to hold the very first Milk Monday as part of Grand Alternative Week! It’s so great to see this tradition continue as part of Ag Week and spreading even more awareness for the dairy industry.

Oh and if you stop by, be sure to snap a picture of your Milk Monday experience and enter the #mAGnifyPurdue Instagram challenge! (More details below.)

Dairy Carrie: 4 p.m. (Krannert Auditorium)
Then, keeping with the dairy theme for the day, the Dairy Club is bringing in blogger Dairy Carrie to speak at 4 p.m. in the Krannert Auditorium! If you aren’t familiar with Carrie, she and her husband farm with his parents on their 100 cow dairy farm in southern Wisconsin. She writes about agriculture and her life as a dairy farmer on her blog, The Adventures of Dairy Carrie.

As part of Ag Week, Carrie will be sharing her agriculture story and giving students the chance to ask questions and learn more about what life is like on a dairy farm. And from what I know of Carrie, she’s pretty funny, so I’m sure you’ll also get a few laughs along with it.

I really wish I was in town to attend this event, because Carrie is a great blogger and has wonderful life and on-farm experiences to share with everyone. If you’re going to be in town, I really encourage you to attend her session! If, not you can learn more about her by heading over to her blog or Facebook page.

Ag Week Instagram Challenge
Another neat feature of Ag Week is their new Instagram challenge! Each day they will be having a contest on Instagram featuring a different challenge that coordinates with that day’s events. With each contest, you simply post a picture on Instagram that meets the challenge and enter by using the hashtags #mAGnifyPurdue or #mAGnifyChallenge.

Monday’s Challenge – Post a photo sharing about your experience at Milk Monday!

It’s only the second day of Ag Week and they already have a lot of great things happening! The events continue tomorrow with Heifer International’s Kiss a Calf, Agronomy Club and ASAP’s sessions on Ag Policy and GMOs, and the Hammer Down Hunger meal packing event. Check back tomorrow to learn more!

Happy Purdue Ag Week!