Farm Credit of the Virginias celebrates Agriculture Literacy Week

STAUNTON, VA - Farm Credit of the Virginias’ employees donated more than 375 books to elementary school classrooms and libraries across their tristate territory in celebration of Agriculture (Ag) Literacy Week. During Ag Literacy Week (March 17-21), team members joined more than 60 classrooms to read the story and lead activities to help more than 1,800 students and educators gain a greater awareness and understanding of agriculture.

Farm Credit employee reads to students during Ag Literacy Week. Image credit - Farm Credit of Virginias

Ag Literacy Week is a yearly observance in March organized by Virginia Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) in which a book is selected and volunteers from agricultural organizations and businesses across the state donate copies of the story to local classrooms, volunteer to read the story and lead activities with students. The 2025 Virginia AITC book of the year was “Outdoor Farm, Indoor Farm” by Lindsay Metcalf, featuring pen pals who write to each other comparing and contrasting their families’ farms.

“Virginia Agriculture in the Classroom connects children to agriculture through creative storytelling and engaging activities, such as our Agriculture Literacy Week. The farm to table and home process is made relevant, especially when a face is given to the farmer,” shared Virginia AITC’s Education Outreach Coordinator, Miriam Thomas. She continued, “It’s wonderful to see our many volunteers reading to children, thus deepening their understanding of agriculture!”

Farm Credit employee reads to students at Ottobine Elementary School in Rockingham County, Virginia. Image credit - Farm Credit

Now in its fifteenth year, Farm Credit is pleased to participate in yet another Ag Literacy Week and support the efforts of Virginia AITC. Over the last eight years, Farm Credit of the Virginias has donated more than 2,500 books to classrooms in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.

Farm Credit of the Virginias Chief Brand Officer, Katie Frazier, shared, “Ag Literacy Week is one of FCV’s favorite times to celebrate agriculture and education across our footprint.” Frazier continued, “Partnerships like this one with our communities, advocates and farmers are so important as we work together to tell the story of agriculture.”

About Virginia AITC

Virginia AITC is a statewide educational program providing resources, training and support to schools, educators and volunteers so that they can meaningfully connect children to agriculture. We do this through AITC-designed lessons and resources, educator training workshops, newsletters, school grants, teacher awards, and volunteer projects and initiatives such as Agriculture Literacy Week. Recognizing that instructional time is highly valuable, our lessons are designed to support core subjects and uphold the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL). If you’d like to learn more about Virginia AITC, please visit their website: https://virginia.agclassroom.org/

About Farm Credit of the Virginias

Farm Credit of the Virginias provides over $2.3 billion dollars in financing to more than 12,000 farmers, agribusinesses and rural homeowners throughout Virginia, West Virginia and western Maryland. Farm Credit is a cooperative capitalized largely through investments made by farmers, ranchers and the rural homeowners and businesses that borrow from them. In fact, as part of a nationwide network they are the largest single provider of agricultural credit in the United States and have been for over 100 years. Farm Credit helps maintain and improve the quality of life in rural America and on the farm through its constant commitment to competitive lending, expert financial services and for facilitating and sharing knowledge and resources through the Farm Credit Knowledge Center.