Ag barbecue a big hit with students
More scholarship money will be available to the students of the College of Agriculture after more than 2,500 pounds of food was prepared, donated and served to the community at the Utah Agriculture Products Barbecue, outside the Stan Laub Center Saturday.
As an ongoing tradition for 15 years, the barbecue gets bigger and better with every passing year said Gary Straquadine, associate dean of the College of Agriculture. This year’s barbecue showcased 13 Utah agriculture commodities ranging from beef shish kabobs to onion rings.
Students, members of the community and anyone with an empty stomach, ate all they could for an $8 entrance fee.
“I paid more than that for my burger last night,” Malcolm Rose, an ambassador for the College of Agriculture said. “Here, I got to eat turkey, lamb, beef and pork. Now that’s a killer deal.”
The entrance fee was collected to provide more scholarships for students at USU studying agriculture. Straquadine said approximately $8000 to $10,000 is raised each year from the barbecue.
According to Brian Hardy, member of the Dairy Farmers of America, making money available for scholarships is important to many agriculture organizations.
“We want to see our children get a good education and then come back and work on the family farm,” he said. “Participating in events like this aids agriculture students, through scholarships, to get the education our industry needs them to have.”
Hardy said the Dairy Farmers of America donated 2,784 pieces of cheese for barbecue attendees to devour.
Jed Christensen of Utah’s Own Agriculture Products said that although, on the face the barbecue may just appear to be a fundraiser, it’s really a two-fold event. He said the day is also about show casing Utah’s agriculture products.
“If we can educate our consumers to look for locally raised agriculture products, we can do a lot to boost our local economy,” he said. “We want people to invest in the local economy so that we can naturally generate more goods and services within our communities. Plus, doing so will help us to reduce our carbon foot print.”
Jared Gibbons, president of USU Plant Science Club, said most people don’t buy locally because they don’t know which companies are local.
He said after this event they can go into the store and say, “Oh, I’ll buy this. I saw them at the Utah Agriculture Products Barbecue.”
Such commodity exposure was important to many organizations at the event, especially those of the livestock industry.
“We have to face many different pressures from scared land and water resources to showing our public that we treat animals humanely,” said Don Anderson, vice president of the Utah Cattlemen Association.
He also said an event like this gives the organization a chance to mingle with the public and bring greater understanding about our industry.
The Utah Cattlemen Association and the Utah Beef Council helped others to enjoy the taste of beef by preparing 2,000 shish kabobs, a total of 375 pounds of beef.
For those shy of red meat, the Utah Pork Growers provided another option – 500 pounds of grilled pork.
“We’ve heard many people tell us that they come to the barbecue just to taste our pork,” Lu Arnold, Utah pork promotion director said. “That’s because pork isn’t just the other white meat anymore, it is the white meat, proving to be leaner than chicken.”
Yet, of all the meat at the barbecue, the grilled lamb was the top favorite of many attendees.
“The lamb was excellent. It wasn’t dry or oily, which is a hard thing to do with lamb,” said Rose. The way they marinate it keeps one coming back for more and more.
So many people went back for lamb that the organization ran out of their 280 pounds of lamb, 30 minutes before the barbecue ended.
“All it takes is just one taste of lamb to recognize how much you like it,” said Laura Selman, a cook at the lamb booth. “After eating and exposing lamb to consumers, people don’t think much more about Mary’s little lamb. They think about how well that lamb tastes.”
Other tasty products served at the event included Sanpete County Barbecued Turkey, Santaquin’s Mountain Land Valley apples, onion rings fried by the Utah Onion Grower’s Association and Utah Truffles donated by Utah’s Own.
With all that food, it’s no wonder Stan Rose, an agriculture ambassador said, “I’m full – and for a fat kid, that’s saying something.”
Overall, the Utah Agriculture Product Barbecue was a success, said Noelle Cockett, dean of the college.
“In this event, we had a fabulous showing of the support Utah Agriculture gives to us as a college,” she said. “Students will directly benefit from all the scholarship money raised at this event.”
–tamralwatson@cc.usu.edu