UC Cooperative Extension nutrition advisors in Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Tehama and Yuba/Sutter counties teamed up with local farm bureau offices to present the 6th annual AgriBee, a spelling bee for third- and fourth-graders with words limited to agricultural terms.
The children are required to spell and define the words, said an article about the competition in the Chico Enterprise-Record.
Here are some examples from the word list that I thought might stump an 8- or 9-year-old:
Abomasum - the fourth or true stomach of a ruminant
Catkin - a dense spike of small, petalless flowers
Roughage - feeds that are made of grass, hay or silage
Vegetate - grow or sprout like a plant
Wether - a castrated male sheep
Each student competed in a school-wide competition to earn a place in the regional AgriBee. The winner was Kirsten-Grace Baker of the Children's Community Charter School in Paradise. She won a laptop computer by correctly spelling and defining "pullet," a chicken that has never laid an egg.
The AgriBee was designed to boost students' understanding and knowledge of food and agriculture.