Michele Smoot has served as the director of the NC Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom since May 2012. She grew up on a fourth generation farm in southeast Virginia. There her family grew peanuts, cotton, soybeans, wheat, and corn while raising beef cattle and market hogs on 1,500 acres. Currently, those farms are in full operation under her guidance. She received her BS degree in Animal Science from Ferrum College and later earned a Master’s degree in adult education with a concentration in curriculum and instruction. She has worked for Carroll Foods, known today as Murphy Brown and later began a career in feed sales and management with Southern States. In 1994, she began her teaching career and since then has taught grades three through 12 as well as college students receiving their BS degree in elementary education. Michele currently resides in Zebulon with her husband Les. She finds her position extremely rewarding as all of her experience and education fits into this one role. Michele believes that educating students and the general public on the importance of NC agriculture is vital to the growth of our nation as well as meeting the needs of an emergent world population.