Beaufort County Schools is gearing up for its Northeast Regional Ag Expo, which will span seven counties this year.

The Ag Expo will be held Nov. 12 at the Sen. Bob Martin Center in Williamston. The seven participating counties are: Beaufort, Bertie, Hyde, Martin, Pitt, Tyrrell and Washington counties.

This is the third year of the Ag expo and will prove to be the biggest yet with more than 50 exhibitors, according to Sarah Hodges, public information officer at Beaufort County Schools.

“We have all the exhibits placed,” she said. “We tried to reach out to businesses and farms in the seven counties.”

Organizers have completed the layout plans of the event and are expecting to start checking in the exhibitors on Tuesday, Hodges said. The event will have three different types of exhibitors: colleges or secondary education exhibits; big machinery exhibits; and tabletop exhibits.

“We do have a good variety,” she said. “We want kids to know you can be in agriculture and not be a farmer.”

The Ag expo is set to begin around 9:30 a.m. with the opening speakers, including Larry Wooten, president of Farm Bureau in North Carolina and Bob Etheridge, former congressman and current executive director of N.C. Farm Service Agency. The students will then break off into groups with adults who will walk them through the various exhibits, according to Hodges.

“It is designed to expose high school students, enrolled in agriculture classes and/or Future Farmers of America, to as many agriculture-related careers and post-high school education experiences as possible,” a press release stated.

Thanks to the sponsors, including Beaufort County Farm Bureau, PotashCorp-Aurora, East Coast Equipment and Ag Carolina Farm Credit, lunch will be provided to everyone, each participant can take home a T-shirt and there is no cost to any schools or students, Hodges said.

She said the goal is to have students make connections and learn their options in the agriculture field after high school graduation.

“We’re really excited,” Hodges said.

The Northeast Regional Ag Expo will take place on Nov. 12 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Sen. Bob Martin Center in Williamston.