(08/26/26) WINNSBORO, LA. — Weightlifting, sports and crochet may not have much to do with agriculture by themselves, but at the AgReimagined Symposium, they were crucial to educating attendees on agricultural research and techniques.

On Aug. 10, three student workers and two assistant professors with the LSU AgCenter presented their ideas for new ways to explain and teach agricultural concepts in relatable ways. The event was hosted at the AgCenter Tom H. Scott Research, Extension and Education Center in Winnsboro.

Assistant professors Dimitrios Pavlou and Anna Orfanou, who led this symposium, needed some help over the summer but didn’t want their helpers to just clock in and out every day. They wanted to make sure the students were engaged and could take something from this work, more than just a paycheck.

“I hope AgReimagined helped them leave the summer not only knowing more about agricultural science, but also thinking more like scientists, asking why, working collaboratively, communicating their ideas and being willing to approach problems creatively,” Orfanou said.

Kayden Simons, one of the student workers, was a student at Franklin Parish High School who focused on his passion for weightlifting to find a connection to agriculture. Through observations of other workers at the research farm, Simons realized that many of them had knee, back and neck issues because of the improper way they lunged or lifted heavy objects.

For his presentation, he demonstrated the proper techniques to lunge and pick up heavy objects, such as a full wheelbarrow or buckets. Simons also had members of the audience get up and try the proper ways to lunge, lift and pick up different equipment.

The next presentation was done by Eric Wilson, an undergraduate student at Southern University. Wilson took his knowledge and interest in sports and found analogies within agriculture.

To communicate these links, Wilson created a card game. He made 40 different cards that could connect with magnets on the inside. On one side of the card was an image of either a common agriculture topic, like crop rotation and irrigation systems, or a sports term, like a substitution or defense. On the flip side of the card was a description of what was on the front.

The game is to try to make matches between an agricultural practice and a sports term to create a connection between the two. While there are technically no right or wrong answers, as long as there is a good justification of the pairs, this could help teach people some farming terms that would otherwise be confusing.

In line with games, Pavlou had all participants take part in a word association game called Hidden Roots that also helped educate players on agricultural concepts. He and Orfanou frequently create and release these kinds of games on their social media account, TheFieldosophers, as part of an ongoing effort to educate people with fun engagement. At the AgReimagined symposium, the game included groups with plant products, plant needs and plant parts.

The final student presentation was by Lizzie Smith, an undergraduate student at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Using soil moisture data from a cover crop and irrigation study in corn plots led by Pavlou and Orfanou over the summer, she crocheted a scarf that represented the data in an unconventional, visual way.

The study was on how cover crops impact the water tension in the soil they are planted in. They set up three sensors at different levels in the soil (8, 16 and 24 inches) and collected data throughout the season.

The scarf reflected the results by showing on one side the data for the soil without cover crops and, on the other side, the data for the soil with cover crops. Smith crocheted a row for each day data was taken, starting at the bottom and moving up with each day and with one column for each sensor. Side by side, the data can be clearly seen and understood.

To end the day, Orfanou presented a project that she prepared with Pavlou, which focused on data sonification, or using pitches and rhythm to express data. Using data collected over the corn growing season for the same project that Smith crocheted her scarf for, Orfanou and Pavlou programmed a computer to create two songs based on the results of the project: one for the soil with no cover crops and one for the soil with cover crops.

Orfanou and Pavlou gave musical roles to the soil moisture data, with the sensor at 8 inches representing the melody, at 16 inches the harmony and at 24 inches the bass.

When the soil was wetter, the melody became busier with more notes. When the soil was drier, there were fewer notes. Wetter soil created fuller, richer chords and a stronger bass line while drier soil created simpler sounds with less bass.

Orfanou began by playing the “no cover crop” song while a video displayed the corresponding soil moisture graph. Later, she asked the audience to draw the soil moisture graph for the cover crop song using only the music as their guide. Their graphs closely matched the real data simply by listening.

At the end, Orfanou played the two songs together, which audially revealed the differences that the two systems had throughout the season. This presentation demonstrated how powerful data sonification can be for helping broader audiences understand scientific information.

For Pavlou, the variety of these projects showed why more consideration should be taken to express agricultural information and data. These topics may seem hard to comprehend, but there are still ways to explain them in a palatable and understandable manner to the public.

“Programs like AgReimagined help change that narrative by showing that agriculture isn’t just essential. It’s genuinely cool,” Pavlou said. “When students work on creative, hands-on projects that blend problem solving, technology and real-world impact, they see agriculture as a space where they can build things, experiment and make a difference. Nontraditional approaches like this help us bring new talent into the sector by showing that agriculture is not only vital to society but also full of innovation, excitement and opportunity.”

Kayden Simons, left, demonstrated techniques on how to best lift and carry heavy objects on a farm as well as the proper techniques to lunge at the AgReimagined Symposium at the LSU AgCenter Tom H. Scott Research, Extension and Education Center in Winnsboro. Photo by Anthony Bailey/LSU AgCenter

Eric Wilson, who created a card game that explained agricultural practices in relation to sports terms, shared his work at the AgReimagined Symposium in Winnsboro. Photo by Anthony Bailey/LSU AgCenter

Lizzie Smith crocheted a scarf to represent data from a project she worked on over the summer. She shared her design and methodology at the AgReimagined Symposium in Winnsboro. Photo by Anthony Bailey/LSU AgCenter

Attendees participated in various activities at the AgReimagined Symposium, including getting an up-close look at Lizzi Smith’s scarf. Photo by Anthony Bailey/LSU AgCenter