By Greg Glassner CP Editor
Having grown up on a family farm, Michael Carter knew at a young age the importance of Agriculture. It remains Caroline County’s biggest business.
Michael Carter
For the past 35 years, as a high school or middle school agriculture teacher, he has been inspiring others to consider careers in agribusiness or at least boost their families’ health by growing a portion of their own food at home.
He takes great pride in young sixth and seventh graders at Caroline Middle School germinating a tomato plant from a tiny seed, nurturing it at school until it is six or inches tall and then taking it home to plant in their backyard gardens.
“Some of them even take pictures of their tomato plant to show me how well it is doing,” Carter said.
“About 15 percent of the students today live on farms, but there is still an interest in Agriculture,” Carter said. “Even through there are so many options, most sixth and seventh graders take Ag for nine weeks. About 350 students a year are exposed to Agriculture.
“The subject hasn’t really changed. Farmers and gardeners are still using the same basic tools. They get some exposure to this.”
The Agriculture curriculum includes many other skills such as woodworking, using hand tools safely, plumbing and soldering, Carter said. These are some of the many skills useful for farmers and homeowners alike.
Forestry also enters into the picture. The Middle School kids get to go to Fort A.P. Hill and learn about harvesting mature trees and reforestation. The also learn to identify the 25 species of native trees that have been planted around the high school/middle school campus. “The majority of eighth graders can identify them,” Carter said.
Originally from Orange County, where his family raised cattle, hogs and had a huge garden, Carter worked summers under a soil scientist at the Piedmont Technical Center. He attended Virginia State University and graduated in 1979. While there he worked for the college to help pay for books and rent.
He did his student teaching at Caroline County High School and then accepted hi first teaching job in Fauquier County, teaching at both the middle and high school levels. “I earned $10,580 a year in 1979,” he said.
In 1986, Carter moved to Caroline County and began teaching Agriculture at the high school. Back then there were three Ag teachers offering a four-year program.
“Four years ago I moved over to the Middle School,” Carter said.
Although the basics of Agriculture have remained pretty much the same, student attention span has changed due in part to the many electronic gadgets available to them, Carter admitted.
“You’ve got to get their attention, but there is still some wonder left in the younger ones,” he said.
Carter and his wife Ann raised two children here in Caroline County. Michael Carter Junior graduated from North Carolina A&T and is now working in agriculture in Africa. Daughter Amanda is an English teacher in Houston.
“Education is the key,” Carter said.
Carter was recently recognized at the annual Agriculture Teacher’s Conference in Lynchburg for his 35 years of teaching.