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National Agriculture in the Classroom

AgBadging Overview

  • The AgBadging program is designed for students ages 8-11 (grades 3-5).
  • The AgBadging Field Guide leads learners through an exploration of agriculture—what you eat, wear, and use every day. It is designed for nonformal (e.g., farm field days) and formal classroom use.
  • Students can earn five different themed badges and a completion badge. Badges provide recognition for learning and serve to positively motivate learning about agriculture.
  • Students select activities to earn badges within the themes of Agriculture & the Environment, Plants & Animals, Food & Health, Technology & Engineering, and Geography & Culture.
  • Each theme has milestones that track the student's agricultural journey. Students select three milestones to complete for each badge.
  • After finishing a milestone, the student records the completion date and gets it signed off in their field guide by an adult (a parent, grandparent, guardian, teacher, youth leader, etc.).
  • Badges are found in the back of the field guide. When a badge is earned, it is placed on the first page of the theme.
  • When a student collects badges for all five themes, they earn a completion badge and a Field Scout Code Name. Students attach the completion badge to the title page of the field guide. Students visit agbadging.agclassroom.org to receive their code name. All code names are careers in agriculture and include a short description of the career and a link to the FFA's Ag Explorer website to learn more. Please Note: Students will not be asked to provide any personal information to receive their code name.
  • The For Students webpage provides students with more information about the milestones including tutorials, book suggestions, videos, games, and more.

AgBadging Suggested Books

Agriculture & the Environment
Plants & Animals
Food & Health
Technology & Engineering
Geography & Culture

AgBadging Materials List

Agriculture & the Environment
Seed Sprout
  • Sandwich-sized resealable plastic bag
  • 3 cotton balls
  • 6 seeds (most bean seeds or popcorn kernels/seeds will work)
Weather Watch
  • Access to local weather report or weather app
  • Video recording device (video camera, smartphone, tablet, etc.)
Soil Investigation
  • 3 planting pots
  • Lettuce seeds
  • Potting soil
  • Local soil
  • Sand
Compost Bottle
  • 2-liter bottle with lid
  • Soil
  • Dried leaves or grass clippings, and food scraps (egg shells; banana, potato, or apple peels; fruit/vegetable scraps; CAUTION: no meat or dairy)
  • Water spray bottle
  • Scissors or utility knife
Light Investigation
  • House plant
  • Aluminum foil
  • Paper clips
Plants & Animals
Agriculture & Me
  • Orange, yellow, and blue highlighter or colored pencil
Farm Tour
Life Cycles
  • No materials required
Eating Plants
  • Fruits and vegetables of choice
Pollinator Hotel
  • Paper straws or rolled up paper
  • 16.9 oz plastic bottle (cleaned and dried)
  • String
  • Scissors or utility knife
Food & Health
MyPlate Menu
  • Paper dinner plate
  • Paper dessert plate
  • Ruler
Farmers' Market Finds
  • Ingredients for chosen recipe
Crop Commercial
  • Video recording device (video camera, smartphone, tablet, etc.)
Produce Poster
  • Poster paper
  • Markers or crayons
My Energy Cycle
  • No materials required
Technology & Engineering
Agricultural Inventors
  • Access to library or Internet
Innovating Farm Equipment
  • No materials required
Build a Barn
  • Craft sticks, construction paper, cardboard, etc.
Farming the Future
  • No materials required
Career Exploration
Geography & Culture
Cooking Video
  • Ingredients and cooking tools for chosen recipe
  • Video recording device (video camera, smartphone, tablet, etc.)
Where in the World?
What's for Lunch?
  • Access to library or Internet
Food Supply Chain
  • Paper
Holiday Traditions
  • Paper