At Wiscasset’s Chewonki Foundation, they are looking to grow things.

Not just fruits and vegetables, however.

The first Youth Agricultural Day, which debuted Thursday, Aug. 7, featured four farms and dozens of students coming together for a day exploring Chewonki’s campus. The Agricultural Day was aimed at giving teenagers a chance to explore a working Maine farm and share their experiences.

Megan Phillips, Chewonki farm manager, said the day was a showcase collaboration for several different nonprofits in the state.

“It’s a gathering for several organizations who intersect youth groups and agriculture along the coast of Maine,” she said. “Among the five organizations, there are planned visits to different farms.”

The day featured not only Chewonki, but Rockport’s Erickson Field Reserve, Freeport’s Wolfe Neck Farm and Portland’s Cultivating Community.

Aaron Englander, manager of Erickson Field Reserve, said bringing youth groups together made sense, as all focused on local farming and sustainable living.

“We were looking to cultivate community,” he said. “There have been talks about how to network and create youth-and-agriculture collaborations.”

As important as it is to explore where food comes from, it’s important to raise the next generation of socially-conscious eaters, Englander said.

“There is a bigger and bigger locally-grown food movement in Maine, and we’re hoping they will come to value how it’s grown,” he said. “It’s an important aspect to know where your food comes from. That’s a big step in becoming a conscientious consumer.”

Phillips said there were plans to have another similar day in the future, when different groups, farms and nonprofits had a chance to come together.

“I would like to see it grow in the future to where it becomes a more regular thing,” she said. “Teens so often are told to ‘take in information,’ but this gives them a chance to share what they have taken in. They get a chance to share their different experiences, which they don’t always have a chance to do.”