Welcome to the Agricultural Education Panel Discussion!
The Second Discussion
Five well-rounded volunteers are participating, bringing a wealth of knowledge, information, and encouragement to the world of Agricultural Education and its importance in educational curriculums.
There are five topics that the panel discusses. Before continuing with our second discussion, let’s introduce the panel…each hand-picked to represent a variety of educators and a variety of learning environments.
Ryan, Debra, and Karlee are teachers that work closely with students, developing and delivering comprehensive lessons in the traditional setting. Melissa is a homeschool educator, managing lesson plans while creating and tailoring the best educational environment for her children. Katie is an educator for a community youth group who focuses on bringing agriculture close-to-home for kids that do not have agricultural education within their schools.
Click Here to read an in-depth introduction of each of the educators participating in our panel discussion.
Terms used:
Ag and/or Ag Ed may be used interchangeable for Agricultural Education
The term FFA is used below. FFA, formerly known as Future Farmers of America, is a national organization that is implemented in schools throughout the U.S. It prepares students for an education and career in leadership, science, and business for agricultural pursue.
Learn more at https://www.ffa.org/
4H refers to the community-based national organization that promotes a multitude of education and skills. In rural communities, 4H groups usually focus on agricultural topics.
Learn more at https://4-h.org/about/what-is-4-h/
The second topic:
(NTF asked): Different aspects of agriculture - Our farm focuses on regenerative agriculture while other farms focus on monocultures. There is a wide range of agricultural topics. How do you think your students view agriculture?
Ryan – Middle School Science Teacher in a Rural School District
“Being that our town is surrounded by thousands of acres of sprawling corn and soybean fields, I believe when students hear the term “agriculture”, they rows of vegetables covering a massive amount of land. I know the families of many of my students have vegetable gardens in their backyards, but I feel that many students do not make the connection that their vegetable garden is in fact a form of agriculture on a smaller scale. In this sense, I do feel that it would be great to educate students on this smaller scale agriculture. Often times, the healthiest food we can get can come from our own backyards.”
Debra – High school Agricultural Education and FFA teacher in a rural school district
“Most of my students are pretty open minded, thankfully. They are very interested in expanding their prior knowledge and open to improving their current operations to improve the operation and making it more sustainable. “
Karlee – High school Spanish teach in a suburban/densely populated school district
“I don't personally think that my students consider Agriculture at all. [My school district] is not known for its farming, although that isn't to say it doesn't exist at all. There is a very active Farmer's Market community during the warmer months and a lot of small personal farms around (see https://www.marketwednesday.com/) Our student demographic doesn't revolve around a farming or agricultural community though.”
Melissa – Home school educator in a rural area
“I think they understand that there are many different types of farming. When we're driving past the big ag farms, we talk about how they are not the best for the land but also about how they developed and why our food is not grown the way it is. The farming we've done also has focused on being good and healing for land so they are aware of the reasons why we do that and why we believe it is the best way to farm. I don't know that any of them will choose a career as a farmer, but I do think they have a wide understanding of what it means to be a farmer today. We know a lot of the farmers in our area, so we see them regularly at the farmers market. Our kids know what it looks like to be a farmer on both small and large scale.”
Katie – Lead educator for youth program located within the city of Columbus, Ohio
“I don’t want to speak for my students, you’d have to ask them! What I’ve noticed personally: for our younger students, it’s a challenge to get them to connect food with farming. For them, food comes from grocery stores, corner stores, or from food distribution centers. Living in an urban setting, our garden is one of the few green spaces around. “
“For our older students, particularly our high school students that participate in our 8-week summer “Green Teens” program, views of agriculture are broadened significantly. At the beginning of the program, we chat as a group about stereotypes of farming; their ideas of what farmers look/talk like, where they come from, etc.”
“We try hard to break this stereotype during the program. We welcome guest speakers into the garden on a regular basis, so our Green Teens are talking with professionals at universities, consultants, large-scale organic farmers, and many small farm owners who attend farmer’s markets. By the end, they see clearly that a background in agriculture can take you many directions, not just the typical mono-crop farming that we are most familiar with from media”
The third topic to will discuss how Agricultural Education may enrich a students academic and non-academic life.
Jump to the fifith
discussion topic