The growing complexity and challenges faced by the US Agriculture industry demands a new generation of highly skilled agricultural professionals equipped with both technical proficiency and practical knowledge. There is also a pressing need to recruit talented students to pursue a degree in plant agriculture and provide quality, hands-on education for those students. Studies indicate that experiential learning activities are a great tool to encourage young people begin careers in agriculture. We established a live crop library on the university farm consisting of agronomic and horticultural crops of Texas. This includes a wide range of vegetable, fruit, herb, grain, and fiber crops. Tropical fruit crops were installed in ground-beds within a greenhouse. This crop library is envisioned as a place for experiential learning, scholarly research, and agricultural outreach activities. The crop library has become a hub for experiential learning activities for both undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in multiple disciplines including plant science, agribusiness, and animal science. Outreach activities geared toward both youth and adults, such as field days, are also being enhanced through the crop library. Quantitative and qualitative data collecting methods are utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of the crop library in enhancing participant’s learning outcomes. Overall, this project provides a stimulus for high school and college students to enhance their knowledge of plant agriculture in Texas. Adult learners gain understanding of new ways to income or assist others in improving their agricultural income. The findings will continue to contribute to ongoing efforts to improve learning outcomes in multiple educational settings.
