12 Virtual Farm Trips Worth (Re)Watching from 2024
By Dan Toland
At Shift•ology, we’ve produced ~450 LIVE Virtual Farm Trips (VFTs) for nearly 1.5 million students since 2014 – each one of them unique. In 2024 alone, more than 300,000 students were registered for 58 VFTs, providing copious amounts of live experiences with farmers and agriculture in general, but also tons of recorded trips anybody can watch on demand at any time.
As we count down to the New Year and new adventures ahead, we take a look back at 12 of the most unique, new and interesting Virtual Farm Trips we helped our partners produce in 2024…
12. Live Trip to an Ohio Pig Farm For Elementary Students
Partner: Ohio Pork Council
Date: Nov. 18, 2024
Students Registered: 2,713
Get a look inside of a real, modern pig farm to learn how pigs are cared for and raised to become bacon (and of course, many other delicious pork products)! Students learn the life cycle of pigs, different stages of production, a bit about careers in the industry, and all the work involved in farmers making sure they have healthy, productive lives while in their care.
11. Science of Aquaculture at Freshwater Farms
Partner: Ohio Soybean Council
Date: April 17, 2024
Students Registered: 2,887
Dr. Dave virtually opened the doors of his Ohio aquaculture farm, Freshwater Farms, to show students how he raises freshwater fish for a variety of uses. View different varieties of fish and learn how they are raised, learn how soybean meal raised by Ohio farmers is used in the production of fish feed used on the farm, see how Dr. Dave utilizes plants for filtration and recycling of water on his farm and more in this aquatic adventure in agriculture.
10. Careers in Wind Energy Virtual Field Trip
Partner: Ohio Energy Project
Date: Oct. 9, 2024
Students Registered: 3,138
Learn how wind is harnessed into electricity at One Energy’s headquarters in Findlay, Ohio, where students get a tour of a wind turbine, see just how expansive the blades are, take in tons of facts about wind energy and learn about various careers available in the industry.
9. From Farm to Table (Dairy) with Ohio Department of Agriculture
Partner: Ohio Department of Agriculture
Date: Sept. 11, 2024
Students Registered: 2,827
Visit the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Consumer Protection Laboratory to learn about the important work the agency conducts to make sure dairy products are safe for consumers. This trip is complete with a visit to Young’s Jersey Dairy, where students learn how a cow is milked and see how ice cream is made at the fun, family destination.
8. Visit the Veal Farm
Partner: Veal – Discover Delicious
Date: Oct. 1, 2024
Students Registered: 1,536
Veal is a unique beef product that many students, let alone consumers, know much about. Get a peek inside a veal farm to learn how cows are cared for and raised for veal in this VFT.
7. Caring for the Calves
Partner: Dairy West
Date: Sept. 30, 2024
Students Registered: 3,974
With beautiful mountains in the background, take a trip to Farmer Staci’s farm to learn all about calves, the foundation of every dairy farm. See how calves are raised, what they eat and drink, their breed characteristics and how they grow into the next generation of milking cows on this trip!
6. Egg Tech: STEM for Happy Hens
Partner: GrowNextGen & Ohio Poultry Association
Date: Nov. 4, 2024
Students Registered: 2,347
Healthy eggs come from happy hens! Get a look inside the biosecure barns of a Top 10 egg producer to learn how hens are raised to produce healthy and nutritious eggs. Then watch the eggs go right into the processing area where vast amounts of technology and quality assurance make sure they are cleaned, sorted, inspected, packaged and ready to be distributed.
5. Every Day is Earth Day on the Dairy Farm!
Partner: American Dairy Association Indiana
Date: April 19, 2024
Students Registered: 4,511
Join American Dairy Association Indiana and Farmer Abbie as they celebrate Earth Day with a dairy farm tour. Abbie knows the cows by name and many of them are mothers and daughters from several generations on the farm. They also milk their cows with robots and keep the barn clean and comfortable for the cows with many kinds of technology! Follow along as Abbie shows us how they recycle water, protect their soil and reduce energy use on their dairy farm.
4. California Farm Day
Partner: California Ag in the Classroom
Date: May 3, 2024
Students Registered: 21,066
This event feels like 10 trips in one! Join California Ag in the Classroom for its annual virtual Ag Day event focused on the Future of Agriculture! From animal genetics, robotic harvesters, bees, flowers, drones, GPS and more, students get a look at what’s new and fun in moving agriculture forward!
3. Elmer Richards & Sons Dairy Farm Tour for Elementary Students
Partner: American Dairy Association North East
Date: Oct. 31, 2024
Students Registered: 23,623
Get a unique play-by-play trip through the calf barn, freestall barns and milking parlor at Elmer Richards and Sons Dairy! Led by the host and farmer immersed right on top of the beautiful footage, and complete with quizzes to enhance learning, this Virtual Farm Tour is a must see!
2. Virtual Farm Trips to a California Peach, Pumpkin and Cherry Farm
Partner: San Joaquin AgVenture
Date: Multiple
Students Registered: 62,294
Come see the wide variety of speciality crops grown in San Joaquin County, California, and why so many students enjoy these trips. See a cherry and peach orchard, or hop over to a pumpkin farm to learn how these unique products are grown, harvested and processed, along with the many ways they are used.
1. Real Christmas Tree Farm Trips
Partner: Real Christmas Tree Board
Date: Multiple
Students Registered: 40,486
New trips this year took students on fun adventures to real live Christmas tree farms! Take a peek at Michigan Christmas tree farm nursery that grows tens of thousands of seedlings at a time from pine cone seeds to deliver to tree growers throughout the United States. Then hop on over to an Oregon farm to watch Christmas trees get expertly sheared and harvested by helicopters from the hillsides before being shaken, baled, loaded and delivered to be the centerpieces of holiday celebrations.