Agricultural Literacy Curriculum Matrix

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Lesson Plans (29)

A Search for the Source (Grades 9-12)

In this lesson students will learn that agriculture provides nearly all of the products we rely on in any given day by participating in a relay where they match an everyday item with its "source." Grades 9-12

A Tale of Two Burgers: Beef and Plant-based Protein

Students compare the components of beef and plant-based burgers by determining the production and processing methods of each product; evaluate the ingredients and nutritional differences between beef and plant-based products; and discuss different points of view in the agricultural industry concerning plant-based proteins and traditional beef. This lesson covers a socioscientific issue and aims to provide students with tools to evaluate science within the context of social and economic points of view. Grades 9-12

Agricultural Production Regions in the United States

Students investigate US crop and livestock production and analyze the relevance of land use models in contemporary agricultural production. Grades 9-12

Before the Plate

Students view the 2018 documentary Before the Plate and follow Canadian chef John Horne as he journeys to the source of ten primary food ingredients used in his restaurant. Using critical thinking skills, students will explore the farm-to-table journey of food. This lesson covers a socioscientific issue and aims to provide students with tools to evaluate science within the context of social and economic points of view. Grades 9-12

Carbon Hoofprints: Cows and Climate Change

Students explore the carbon cycle and evaluate the carbon footprint of cattle. Using critical thinking skills, students will use the Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning model to determine the effect of cows’ methane production on the environment and investigate the extent cattle contribute to climate change. Grades 9-12

Earth's Land and Soil Resources

Students discover that topsoil is a nonrenewable resource and use an apple to represent how Earth’s land resources are used. Through critical thinking, students study agricultural land use and consider the sustainability of current land use practices including the use of land to feed and graze livestock animals. Grades 9-12

Evaluating Perspectives About GMOs

While many view bioengineered crops (GMOs) as a promising innovation, there is controversy about their use. This lesson provides students with a brief overview of the technology, equipping them with the ability to evaluate the social, environmental, and economic arguments for and against bioengineered crops (GMOs). This lesson covers a socioscientific issue and aims to provide students with tools to evaluate science within the context of social and economic points of view. Grades 9-12

Farmland

Students will view the 2014 film Farmland, a documentary spotlighting six farmers and ranchers in the United States. The film portrays the business and lifestyle of a variety of farmers and ranchers. Perspectives on topics such as bioengineered (GMO) crops, animal welfare, organic and conventional farming practices, farm size, farming stereotypes, and more are presented. Grades 9-12

Federal Lands: Ranching & Recreating on Common Grounds

Using various forms of maps, students will analyze public lands in the western United States, describe how ranchers raise food and fiber on federally owned land, and discuss different points of view concerning public lands use and public lands grazing. This lesson covers a socioscientific issue and aims to provide students with tools to evaluate science within the context of social and economic points of view. Grades 9-12

Filling the Global Grocery Bag

Students learn what factors affect a country's ability to produce their own food and how food expenses differ throughout the world. Grades 9-12

Food Evolution

Students will view the 2016 documentary Food Evolution to evaluate the polarized debate surrounding bioengineering (GMOs). In this film director, Scott Hamilton Kennedy travels from Hawaiian papaya groves to Ugandan banana farms, to cornfields in Iowa to document how agricultural technology can be used in such varied crop settings. This lesson covers a socioscientific issue and aims to provide students with tools to evaluate science within the context of social and economic points of view. Grades 9-12

Food: Going the Distance

Students calculate the miles common food items travel from the farm to their plates and discuss the environmental, social, and economic pros and cons of eating local vs relying on a global marketplace for our food. Grades 9-12

Geography and Climate for Agricultural Landscapes (Grades 9-12)

Students will discover how geography and climate influence the crops that are grown and the livestock that is raised in each state. Grades 9-12

Global Food Security

Students will explore the causes of hunger, both domestically and globally; evaluate potential solutions for solving world hunger; and forecast the impact of a growing world population on current food supplies. Grades 9-12

Global Trade and Interdependence

Students will examine the impacts of the Columbian Exchange and identify the economic and cultural impacts of contemporary global agricultural trade. They will also explore how food choices influence patterns of food production and consumption. Grades 9-12

Kiss the Ground

Students will view the 2020 documentary Kiss the Ground to consider the concept of regenerative agriculture as a tool to improve soil health and overall environmental sustainability.

Looking Under the Label

Students evaluate food package labels, determine their meaning, and use the Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning model to determine the value of the label in relation to food production practices, nutrition, health, and food safety. Students will engage in critical thinking to recognize the impact of food package labels in relation to marketing, consumer perceptions of food, and farming practices. Grades 9-12

My Agricultural Connections (Grades 9-12)

Explore how we are each connected to agriculture through our food, clothing, shelter, fuel, and more. Students will be introduced to agriculture and begin to recognize the depth and complexities of agricultural systems locally and globally. Grades 9-12

Pig Power: Creating Biogas and Renewable Energy

After exploring the science of energy and energy conversion, students will evaluate some environmental impacts of hog farming and explore technologies that minimize negative human impact by creating biogas energy from animal waste. Grades 9-12

Populations

Students evaluate the growth of human populations across time, analyze graphic data to make predictions about future population growth, research country statistics to evaluate demographic transition, and participate in a simulation of a village reliant on subsistence farming. Students begin to develop a sense for the Earth's carrying capacity and how humans have impacted it. Grades 9-12

Soil and Sustainability (Grades 9-12)

Students observe soil ecosystems to investigate how human impact affects the biodiversity of soils using the Simpson's Index of Diversity. Then, students conduct an investigation using field corn to determine how the introduction of nitrogen fertilizers impact soil microorganisms and biodiversity. Grades 9-12

The Big Deal About Big Ag

Discover how technological advances and economic forces influence the size of farms in the United States. Evaluate the pros and cons of large-scale agriculture for the production of our food, fuel and fiber and identify the similarities and differences in commercial vs subsistence farming.

The Carbon Cycle and Climate Smart Agriculture

Students explore the carbon cycle, evaluate natural and human-induced activities that drive the carbon cycle, and discover climate smart agricultural practices that can be used to produce our food. Grades 9-12

The Columbian Exchange of Old and New World Foods (Grades 9-12)

Students explore New World and Old World food origins to discover how the Columbian Exchange altered people’s lives worldwide. Grades 9-12

The Geography of Thanksgiving Dinner (Grades 9-12)

Identify common Thanksgiving foods and their farm source, determine if those foods can be produced locally, and locate the common origins of their Thanksgiving day dinner. Grades 9-12

Companion Resources (33)

Activity
Have a Ball – Your Sphere of Influence
Do you have a complicated issue or problem to discuss with your students? Use a beach ball (or any other type of ball) to demonstrate why a person might have a different "point of view." This activity helps students recognize that every issue can be seen from different points of view.
Trading Around the World
Play this game to experience the challenges and excitement of international trade. See if you can get the best price for the goods you sell and the biggest bargains for the goods you buy. Watch how the global economy is doing: the prices you'll be able to get and the deals you can make depend on how healthy the global economy is.
Book
Ancient Agriculture
This book shows the progression of technology through history as human civilizations progressed from foraging to farming. Agriculture enabled humans to stop wandering from place to place to find food. This chapter book includes text as well as photographs and reproductions to illustrate the implementation of agriculture in our daily lives.
If the World Were a Village
Imagine if the entire world's population were compiled into a village of 100 people. What would the demographics of that village be? This book helps students understand the similarities and differences of a global society. Comprehend the languages they speak, where they live, how much money they earn daily, and if they can read and write.
Booklet/Reader
Food and Farm Facts Booklet
The 2024 Food and Farm Facts is a 32-page booklet filled with the latest Ag Census data, which has been analyzed by economists from the American Farm Bureau Federation. This data has been organized into easy-to-read graphics. Topics include Consumers, Modern Farmers, Trade & Economics, Environment, Production, and an Agricultural History Timeline.
Kit
Farm Profile Cards
Enhance students' understanding of farms with our Farm Profile Cards, which enable them to visualize farms of various sizes, ownership structures, types, and locations. Inside this kit, you'll discover six sets of 21 cards, totaling 126 Farm Profile cards. The cards are color-coded to facilitate group organization and cohesion.
Map
40 Maps that Explain Food in America
A collection of maps and graphs that represent farms, food production, and many other statistics in the United States. These maps provide excellent illustrations for students to understand how climate and geography affects the production of food as well as to provide statistics about the economics of food production through the years and across the United States.
Ag Census Web Maps
This interactive map allows users to select specific agricultural crops from a drop-down menu and see where those crops are grown in the United States. This map provides an excellent illustration for students to see how climate and geography impacts food production.
How America Uses Its Land
A series of interactive maps illustrating how land is used in America.
Interactive Map Project
Use this interactive map to help students see how geography and climate affects the production of agricultural crops. The map has USDA statistics built in to allow your students to answer questions such as, "Which state(s) produce the most cattle?" "Where does [my state] rank nationally in corn production?" "What region of the United States produces the most cotton?" etc. There are many agricultural maps available including field crops such as corn, wheat, barley, and alfalfa in addition to fruit and vegetable crops, ornamental nursery crops, and livestock.
Live Hunger Map
The World Food Programme (WFP) Live Hunger Map monitors food security in more than 90 countries and issues predictions where data is limited. The live map aims to identify areas that are currently food insecure or are sliding towards food insecurity. A static hunger map can be found if you click on "undernourishment" at the bottom of the page. It includes data from 2017-2019.
The Complexities of our Global Food System
The global food system is balanced between the supply and demand of food and tethered to our environment. These high resolution PDFs demonstrate visually the complexity of agriculture. These maps highlight how the global food system is the balance between supply and demand of food as governed by geography and politics. These elements are divided into natural systems and human systems.
Movie/Video
Climate Change: The Water Paradigm
This video explores why maintaining a healthy water cycle may be much more important for the health of the climate than people realize. In case you are wondering, it's not suggesting that the greenhouse effect due to CO2 or methane is insignificant. But prompts a consideration that the importance of the water cycle has been grossly under-emphasized, and should occupy a more central position in environmental discourse.
Crash Course Geography
Crash Course Geography has 50 episodes to support geography courses. The first half of the collection focuses on physical geography, processes, and phenomena. The second half focuses on human geography and explores the ways people occupy the Earth's surface.
FARMLAND
The documentary, FARMLAND was created to educate the public about farms and the source of their food. This documentary highlights six farmers and addresses organic vs conventional farming, risks involved with farming, the public perception of animal welfare, farming stereotypes, and the steps involved in producing an abundant supply of safe and nutritious food for a growing population. This film can be used to supplement secondary lessons.
Food Machine
This video is the first episode of the PBS series, "America Revealed." Show host Yul Kwon explores how the "Food Machine" (agriculture) feeds nearly 300 million Americans every day. The 2012 video highlights farm practices, machines which make the production of our food easier and more productive, and the requirements of nature and our natural resources in order to produce our food. This secondary resource addresses topics such as sustainability, GMOs, pests and pesticides, global food trade, and food marketing.
Give it a Minute: Organic & Conventional Farming
Do you know the difference between organic and conventional (non-organic) foods? In one minute this video explains the differences and similarities in how these foods are produced on the farm.
Growing Today for Tomorrow
Farmers have the biggest job on earth. The population is increasing — yet farmland isn't — so farmers have taken on the responsibility of producing more high-quality crops with fewer resources. This 3.5-minute video illustrates the remarkable improvements that have been made in agricultural efficiency and productivity while bringing home the challenges that the future holds. The attention-grabbing message makes for a great introduction to any lesson on agricultural production or careers in agriculture. 
How Are GMOs Created?
Use this 5-minute video to illustrate the complete process for developing a GMO through the scientific method and research. The Hawaiian papaya story is used as an example for resolving the papaya ring spot virus that had devastated the crop until a GMO variety was developed. Researchers and farmers turned to the development of GMOs as early as 1985 to improve the quality of plants to resist insects and disease while battling problems in production. 
Popped Secret: The Mysterious Origin of Corn
View this 17-minute video to learn about the origins of corn. Discover how the domestication of corn impacted society and what plant domestic corn originates from. This video supports lessons on the domestication of plants and genetic evolution.
TEDMED Talk: What Does the World Eat?
Peter Menzel is a freelance photojournalist known for his coverage of international feature stories on science and the environment, and his wife Faith D’Aluisio is a former award-winning television news producer. In this 14-minute talk, Menzel discusses the projects they have undertaken together, including publishing The Hungry Planet. He further explores the changes they have observed in what and how people eat around the world, touching on issues such as obesity and food security.  
The Man Who Tried to Feed the World
The Man Who Tried to Feed the World recounts the story of the man who would not only solve India’s famine problem, but would go on to lead a “Green Revolution” of worldwide agriculture programs, saving countless lives. He was awarded the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his work but spent the rest of his life watching his methods and achievements come under increasing fire. This documentary provides context for discussions about the Green Revolution, plant breeding methods, accomplishments in selective breeding, conserving natural resources, responding to political pressures, protecting the environment, and providing food to a growing population. The full documentary is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime. 
What is Regenerative Agriculture?
Regenerative agriculture is an effective way to restore biodiversity and stabilize the climate, but what exactly is it? This video explores three different regenerative practices that have great potential both in food production and in healing the land.
What is Sustainable Agriculture?
A video series highlighting common practices farmers and ranchers use to improve profitability, qualify of life, and environmental stewardship.
Why are GMOs Bad?
This video clip provides a brief, but comprehensive introduction to GMOs. The video defines what a GMO is, the history of genetic engineering, how GMOs are created, what traits genetically modified crops exhibit, how traditional plant breeding differs from genetic engineering and how all methods of plant breeding have been used to improve crops through the years.