Inspired by the book "Who Grew My Soup,"  this event highlights a variety of agriculture commodities, such as dairy (cheese), vegetables (tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, basil, oregano, green peppers), wheat  (flour), and pork (pepperoni, sausage, ham).  The goal is to highlight Utah farmers and ranchers who grow the ingredients for pizza, one of America's favorite foods, and engage attendees in conversations about how the food is grown.

Set up

Set up the tent to resemble a "bigger than life" pizza, with engaging activities at each "slice."  At the center of the pizza build a corn pit.  If you build it, they will come.  Children are drawn to the corn pit and play with simple dollar store toys.  While children are playing, it give volunteers a great opportunity to engage parents in conversations about food.

Hosted by Farm Bureau volunteers, each "pizza slice" has a family friendly activity.

Station 1--Ask a Farmer--Consumers have an opportunity to ask a real farmer or rancher questions about how their food is grown.  Questions may vary from how to take care of their own garden or fruit trees to seriously wanting to know about GMOs and what foods are safe and what foods may not be safe.  You may want to provide your volunteers with "Ask a Farmer" t-shirts.

Station 2--Spin and Win--Attendees have an opportunity to answer age appropriate questions about agriculture and win a prize. 

Station 3--Wheat--Give attendees an opportunity to touch a stock of wheat and explain how it is harvested.  Have attendees make living necklaces using wheat.

Station 4----Free Pizza Samples--Partner with a local pizza company to donate pizza cut into sample sized portions.  Attendees love free food!

Station 5--Pork--Have a local pork producer talk about how pork is raised and how they care for their animals.  

Station 6--Vegetables--Provide 2" peat pots, soil, and seeds for attendees to plant basil and oregano seeds. 

Station 7--Cheese--Explain how cheese is made and interesting facts about milk cows--how much water do they drink every day?  How many gallons of milk do they produce every day?  How many times a day are they milked?  Dairy volunteers can answer many of the questions that consumers have about milk and milk substitutes.

Who Grew My Pizza? posters are available for checkout.  Contact Susan Furner at 801-233-3040 or susan.furner@fbfs.com.

For more information and resources visit National Ag Foundation for Ag and Ag in the Classroom websites for supplementary resources such as Pizza Ag Mags.