Batavia, NY -- The third annual New York State Agriculture Literacy Day has been scheduled for April 8, 2008.

Volunteers from around the county, many of whom are closely tied to the agriculture industry, will visit elementary school classrooms to read Sugarbush Spring by Marsha Wilson Chall. The books will then be donated to each school library courtesy of generous donations by Genesee County Farm Bureau, local agricultural businesses, and individual donors.

Barb Sturm, coordinator from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Genesee County, said "Ag Literacy Day gives schools and industry volunteers a perfect opportunity to focus on agriculture awareness, especially in a region where agriculture provides a livelihood for so many people. We hope that by talking to students about how food gets from the farm to their plates, they'll grow to appreciate all the people, processes and businesses contributing every single day to the industry that provides us with almost everything we eat, use and wear."

New York Ag Literacy Day is a statewide educational effort organized by New York Agriculture in the Classroom www.nyaged.org with help from many agencies and organizations, including Cornell
Cooperative Extension, New York Farm Bureau, the Agway Foundation and the NYS Maple Producers Association.

For more information to become a volunteer reader or to sponsor the purchase of books, contact Barb Sturm at Cornell Cooperative Extension at 420 East Main Street, Batavia, 343-3040, ext. 122, e-mail: bbs28@cornell.edu, or visit our website at: http://genesee.cce.cornell.edu.