An estimated 2,000 FFA students from across North Carolina, and some from South Carolina, along with their advisors and ag teachers, attended the University of Mount Olive’s 10th annual AgFest Thursday on the UMO campus. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
A student tries his skills at navigating an inflatable obstacle course during AgFest at the University of Mount Olive. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Students dance in front of an inflatable Thursday during AgFest at the University of Mount Olive. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Students are framed by an AgFest display, one of several displays where they could stop for selfies. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
A student celebrates after scoring at a football toss Thursday during AgFest at the University of Mount Olive. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Mt. Olive pickles were among the free food and treats Thursday during AgFest at the University of Mount Olive. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
One of activities students could try was placing pork cuts in their proper order on a puzzle at the Smithfield Foods booth Thursday during AgFest at the University of Mount Olive. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
A student tries her hand at lassoing a bale of hay with a plastic bull head Thursday during AgFest at the University of Mount Olive. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Tri-County EMC employees fried pickles by placing them on the end of wire then touching a mock-up display of a live transmission line. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Students were able to climb into the cab of state-of-the-art tractors and try their hand at using a simulator of the cab’s advanced features Thursday during AgFest at the University of Mount Olive. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
East Duplin High School students Bailey Jenkins, left, and Crissa Weston, enjoy a frozen treat while walking across the University of Mount Olive campus. “It is so good,” they said in unison. They especially liked that the cups came with a small pink flamingo blowup. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
It is not unusual to see someone fry pickles — that is unless they are using a high-voltage transmission line.
Tri-County EMC personnel used a workable portable mock-up of a live transmission line to demonstrate their work Thursday during the University of Mount Olive’s 10th annual Ag Fest.
Sparks flew between the pickle that was attached to the end of a line that Tri-County personnel used to tap the power line.
The event brought in 2,000 FFA students and their advisors to promote and celebrate awareness of agriculture and other academic opportunities at UMO, said Edward Olive, director of the university’s Lois G. Britt Agribusiness Center.
Exhibitors were on hand to talk with students about farm-related services and technologies including precision agriculture, livestock management, forestry, conservation, crop production, greenhouse management and more.
There was live music throughout the day including a concert to cap off the event.
UMO students and faculty in the School of Agriculture and Biological Sciences and other departments across campus enjoy hosting these high school students and sharing what life is like at UMO, Olive said.
Student could try their hand at lassoing a bale of hay with plastic bull head or ride a mechanical bull. There were displays, inflatables and games, goats, sheep, a Longhorn steer, icy treats and food.
“This is AgFest No. 10,” Olive said. “It’s a beautiful March, almost April, spring day here in North Carolina, which we know is always unpredictable, but today, we couldn’t ask for a more beautiful day. So we are enjoying this beautiful weather we have here for AgFest 2025.
“We’ve got 2,000 students from all across North Carolina, and some from South Carolina, that are here to learn about the University of Mount Olive, but also to learn about different opportunities that exist within the field of agriculture. So whether that’s careers, we got several commodity associations that are here, lots of groups that make today possible.”
The event also has great sponsors, Olive added.
“At a local level we’ve got Piggly Wiggly as one of our presenting sponsors right here in Mount Olive and also the State Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services,” he said.
“They’re helping work together on especially the food area over there. So we’re proud of that partnership with them.”
For East Duplin High School student Tripp Stroud, 16, some of the agriculture displays were old hat since he grew up on a farm. However, it was still a great experience, he said.
Classmate Tyson Britt, 15, agreed.
“I have never been before,” Stroud said. “Both ag teachers asked us if we would like to come. We said sure because it sounded like a good time, and here we are.”
They arrived on the UMO campus about noon and had lunch before beginning to walk around and check out the many displays and activities.
“I think my favorite thing so far has either been the tractor-pulling booth or the Ducks Unlimited booth (where they were passing out duck calls),” Stroud said.
Stroud is not a duck hunter but said he enjoys Ducks Unlimited, adding that he wanted to visit the Caterpillar booth and try his hand at using the tractor cab simulator.
“I enjoyed the Mount Olive Fire Department booth, too,” he said.
At their booth, firefighters helped students don an air pack and demonstrate how it is used, among other things.
It was definitely worth the time to attend AgFest, and it is a good recruitment tool for the university, Stroud added.
“I know that several of the crowd that we came with are thinking about coming to Mount Olive next year,” he said. “The ag teachers kind of wanted them to especially come so they could see what Mount Olive was about.
“I think it is a good experience.”
Stroud said he would encourage other students to attend the event whether they have an interest in agriculture or not because of the variety of options the university offers.
He wasn’t sure how many classmates attended the event, but that it was an activity bus load.
Stroud said he had seen students he knows from North Duplin High School at the event.
However, he added that he had been trying to take everything in while picking up the goodies being offered as the vendor booths instead of looking for people.
“We watched them fry a pickle — he was tapping it on the power line and burning it,” Britt said. “I have enjoyed it. Like he said, I like Ducks Unlimited. I like seeing the tractors and the electric thing, that was pretty cool — where they were frying a pickle with a power line.
“I hope to see some more here in a few minutes. I am looking forward to going to get some ice cream right here in a couple of minutes.”
His classmates, Bailey Jenkins and Crissa Weston, beat him to it. They were walking across campus enjoying a frozen treat.
“It is so good,” they said in unison.
They especially liked that the cups came with a small pink flamingo blowup.
Like Stroud, Britt said the trip was time well spent.
“This is something I definitely have never done before, but I have enjoyed it so far,” he added.
Britt said he would be interested in attending next year’s AgFest.
“I am kind of thinking I might want to come to UMO for college,” he said.
AgFest is probably the biggest thing on campus, especially for agriculture, Olive said.
Bringing 2,000 students to campus triples our traditional student population,” he said. “We typically have about 1,000 traditional students on campus. So adding 2,000 more brings us up to 3,000 folks on campus, which is very exciting.
“We also have about 70 different exhibitors, again representing all those different facets and areas of agriculture.”
Olive said he is especially proud of the approximately 150 student volunteers, along some additional faculty and staff, who help make the event possible and to keep things running smoothly.
As an alumnus and graduate of the ag program, Olive said it gives him a lot of pride to look out and see the support that UMO has across the state and locally for the ag program and the university in general,
“This is, you know, a recruitment event,” Olive continued. “I’d be lying to you if I told you it’s not a recruitment event. We hope that we get students out of this event, but we also understand that there’s lots of other opportunities here that students can can get exposed to.”
Those attending can find all kinds of different careers and activities that they can do after graduation as well, he said.
Planning such a large event takes time, and organizers will start next week by holding a debriefing on what happened this year, what can be improved, Olive said.
“We try to make it a little bit better each year,” he said. “You know, we feel like we’ve got a good event. There’s nothing that really needs to be changed overall – no major changes that are needed. But we try to find that one thing that we can make it just a little bit better each year.
“So next week, we’ll get together with the planning committee, have a debrief meeting and say, ‘What do we need to do? What do we do?’ And then from there on, we’ll have folks reach out to us that say, ‘Hey, how do I get involved for next year? I want to be sure that I’m on the list. I want to be an exhibitor.’”
Comments about AgFest are heard as early as the day of the event from students, their advisors and ag, teachers.
Students and advisors love it, Olive said.
“I mean, it’s a great event, a great opportunity for them to get out,” he continued. “The FFA motto is ‘learning to do, doing to learn, learning to live, living to serve.’ So they get to learn to do and do to learn while they’re out here. They get lots of hands-on opportunities to put that motto into action.
“We hear, ‘Hey, you know, I’ve been trying to teach my students about livestock management. They get to come out here and they see goats, and they see sheep, and they see Longhorn cattle. I’ve been trying to tell them that all these different companies that we have have lots of career opportunities right here in our backyard, and they get to come here and talk with someone from that company.’
“So yes, we hear lot of positive comments on the day of the event. We always solicit feedback from them as well to see what we can do to make it a little better each year.”
AgFest has grown quite a bit since that first year that was attended by about 400, he said. Now, having 2,000 is amazing, Olive said.
AgFest started in partnership with Student Affairs that had a concert that they were doing each year in Kornegay Arena, Olive said.
“We took part in the concert, and by the second year, it had grown so much that we just had to separate it,” he added. “A few years later, it grew even more that we needed to move it outside.
“And that’s really worked out very nicely to have an outside ag fair as part of our AgFest. Come join us. If anybody’s interested in serving or being an exhibitor or serving as far as anything else, have them reach out and we’ll be glad to work with them and get them in.”
