FARM/RANCH MANAGER:
SUPPLY AND DEMAND
LESSON PLAN OVERVIEW
Career: Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers operate and manage the land, assets, and resources on a farm that produce crops, livestock, and dairy products
Lesson: This lesson plan provides activities for students to learn where our food comes from. Students will learn about the changing economics of food production by playing the role of farmers for a farmer’s co-op market. Students will then perform an experiment growing plants using different conditions and monitoring their growth
Grade Level: Middle Grades
Learning Objectives:
〉 Students will be introduced to the career of a farm/ranch manager and what they do.
〉 Students will learn about the changing economics of food production by role-playing as farmers who are part of a co-op to learn about the concept of supply and demand.
〉 Students will perform an experiment growing plants using different conditions and monitoring their growth to determine the best growing environment for maximum plant production
Materials Needed:
Activity #1: Farmer’s Co-op Market Simulation
〉 Student worksheet
〉 Calculator
Activity #2: Maximizing Plant Production
〉 Student worksheet
〉 Plant containers – paper cups or planting trays4 cups per group
〉 Regular soil/dirt and potting soil*
〉 Seeds* – suggest herbs or flower seeds – use same seeds for each cup
TABLE OF CONTENTS
〉 Water-soluble plant food - follow the directions on the package for preparing a solution of plant food and water (e.g. Miracle-Gro or other products are available at hardware or garden stores)*
〉 2 Spray bottles* (students can share – label Tap Water & Plant Food Solution) or use 2 paper cups per group for tap water and plant food solution.
〉 Adhesive labels – one per cup to identify groups and each experiment
〉 Artificial lighting - lamp
〉 Ruler (to measure plants as they grow)
〉 Optional: After the classroom experiment, transfer the plants to the school garden if your school has one
*You can find these materials at your local garden center.
TEACHER GUIDE
Lesson Instructions: The following activities will help you introduce students to how farmers and ranchers grow food. Begin the lesson by reading the Class Message below to your students, then have them watch the recommended career video. Afterwards, facilitate a discussion using the Class Questions listed below.
After the discussion, students will work on two activities. Each activity has a printable worksheet with instructions and areas to record their work. Have students read their worksheets before beginning each activity. You should also familiarize yourself with the student worksheets to provide assistance when needed.
Class Message: Today, we are going to learn about farmers and ranchers. Do any of you know what farmers and ranchers do? Farmers and ranchers supply the food we eat.
Farmers grow fruits, vegetables, nuts, cotton, trees, and other crops for fuel, clothing, and shelter. Ranchers raise animals for meat, eggs, milk, cheese, ice cream, and other dairy products we enjoy!
In this lesson, you will learn about the changing economics of food production by pretending to be farmers at a local farmer’s co-op market to gain an understanding of the concept of supply and demand. Then we’ll perform an experiment growing plants under different conditions. You will monitor their growth to see what the best growing environment is for maximum plant production.
Let’s watch this short video to learn more about a farmer and rancher.
Class Discussion Questions:
〉 Do any of you or a relative live on a farm? Have any of you visited a farm? If so, share your experience. If not, what do you think farmers do on a daily basis?Allow students to share their experience. Response suggestions: feed and take care of the animals; operate equipment; plant, water, and harvest crops.
〉 What do you think determines the price that crops sell for? - Sample answers may include: the amount of the crop available, supply and demand, Farmers’ Cooperative (Co-Op) –a group of farmers pooling their resources together to share the profit from the business.
〉 What are some factors that can affect the final value of the crop? - Sample answers may include: the cost of preparing the soil to plant, labor costs for planting and harvesting the crop, and the cost of watering, fertilizing, and pest control?
Activities Overview: This lesson plan includes two student activities. In Activity #1, students will role-play being farmers at a local farmer’s co-op market. Each student will budget for raising crops and contribute to advertising the farmer’s co-op. In Activity #2, students will grow plants in the classroom under different conditions and monitor their growth to determine the best growing environment for the plants.
Read and familiarize yourself with the student worksheet for each activity.
Activity #1: Farmer’s Co-op Market Simulation
Students will pretend they are farmers at a local farmer’s co-op market. Each student will budget for growing crops and contribute to advertising the farmer’s co-op.
This exercise simulates famers selling crops during four harvest seasons at a local farmer’s co-op market. Each round represents a single harvest and has the following order of events:
All farmers will plant at least 50 of their 100 acres, spending $1 of their $100 harvest budget per acre planted. Farmers will determine which portion of their remaining acreage they wish to plant, and any left-over money from their budget must be contributed to the advertising fund for the farmer’s market.
Rules of the Simulation: Each student will be a farmer with 100 acres to farm of the same crop. Each round in the simulation represents a single harvest, and every farmer has a budget of $100 to spend on each harvest. Every acre takes $1 to plant, and each farmer must plant at least 50 acres each harvest. In addition to planting crops, the farmers will contribute any money left over after planting towards co-op advertising. After each farmer has identified how they will spend their $100 budget, the teacher will calculate how much the farmer made at the market. Regardless of what was made in previous harvests, each farmer only has a budget of $100 for each harvest
Things to Keep in Mind: Students should keep in mind that identical goods, like most crops, are considered commodities. This means every bushel of a particular crop is treated the same as any other bushel, regardless of which farm it came from. With commodity crops, a large supply of crops will reduce the price of each bushel because the buyers have more to choose from. When the supply of commodity crops goes down, the price of each
bushel goes up because buyers have less crops to choose from. These price changes occur because of changes in crop supply.
Students should also be aware of the affects their advertising contributions could make. If more money is spent advertising the co-op market, then more people will attend. When more people are shopping for the same crops, the price of each bushel goes up because the sellers have more people trying to buy their crops. When fewer people are shopping for the same bushel, the price goes down because the sellers have fewer people trying to buy their crops. These price changes occur because of changes in the demand for the crops.
Activity Instructions:
〉 Hand out the student worksheet
〉 Introduce the activity by explaining the simulation and guiding students as needed.
〉 After all farmers have allocated their budget, calculate the amount of money each planted acre generated using the formulas below.
〉 The farmers will then multiply the amount of money each acre generated by the number of acres they planted that harvest. That will tell them how much money they made at the market.
〉 Continue the simulation for 4 harvests.
〉 After completion, facilitate a discussion using the questions for the activity.
Beginning the Simulation: Each harvest begins the same way with each farmer having a $100 budget and up to 100 acres that could be planted. Farmers are allowed to discuss as a group any ideas or plans they may have before deciding how to spend their budget. Once the discussion is over, the farmers will decide their planting and advertising dollar amounts and record them on the Market Simulation Sheet.
Once the farmers have decided how their budgets will be allocated, the teacher will total the number of acres planted and determine the amount of money each farmer received at the farmer’s market using the following two steps:
Step 1 – Calculate the Effects of the Supply of Crops
As the supply of crops increases, the price falls. In this exercise, the effect of supply on price is expressed with the following formula:
Effects of Supply (EoS) = (1 – (Acres of Crops Planted / Maximum Acres of Crops)) + 2
For example, if there were 20 farmers who planted a total of 1,500 out of a maximum of 2,000 possible acres, the effect of supply would be:
〉 EoS = (1 – (1,500 / 2, 000)) + 2
〉 EoS = (1 – 0.75) + 2
〉 EoS = 0.25 + 2
〉 EoS = $2.25 per acre
Step 2 – Calculate the Effects of the Demand
of Crops
The more money spent on advertising the farmer’s market, the more people will show up to purchase crops. In this exercise, the effect of demand on price is expressed with the following formula:
Effects of Demand (EoD) = (Maximum Acres of Crops – Acres of Crops Planted) / 100.
Using the above example, the effect of the demand of crops would be:
〉 EoD = (2,000 – 1,500) / 100
〉 EoD = 500 / 100
〉 EoD = $5 per acre
Now add the supply price and the demand price to calculate the revenue per acre: Revenue per acre = EoS + EoD
For instance, in this example the revenue per acre is $2.25 + $5 = $7.25 per acre planted. Have each farmer multiply this amount by the number of acres planted to see how much money they made off of this harvest. Repeat this process for each harvest.
Procedure Summary:
1. Each group has $100 to divide between planting and advertising, and has 100 acres. Each group must spend at least $50 (50 acres) planting.
2. For each harvest season:
a. Have each group select the number of their acres they want to plant and dollars they want to advertise (these must total 100 for each group).
b. Total up the total acres planted and $ advertising for the entire class.
3. Calculate the crop price for this round:
Revenue per acre = EoS + EoD
EoD = (Total Acres of Crops – Acres of Crops Planted) / 100
EoS = (1 – (Acres of Crops Planted / Maximum Acres of Crops)) + 2
4. Report the revenue per acre to the class, and have each group calculate the revenue they received based on the number of acres their group planted.
5. Repeat for four rounds, and determine the total revenue for each group of farmers for all rounds.
Activity Results: This activity introduced students to the changing economics of food production and the effects of supply and demand on selling price by pretending to be farmers who belong to a farmer’s co-op.
Activity Discussion:
〉 What did this exercise show about the relationship between a single farmer’s decisions and the effect on the group’s outcome? - Sample answers may include: a single farmer’s decision could negatively affect the price of the harvest for all farmers.
〉 Were there harvests where a few farmers acted drastically different from the other farmers? - What was the result of their actions? Allow students to share their experience.
〉 How did the results of early harvests influence your decisions to plant for future harvests? - Allow students to share their experience.
〉 Many farmers in this situation would attempt to coordinate their planting amount with other farmers. What would be the benefits and drawbacks of doing this?Sample answers may include: Benefit - farmers coordinating their planting with others would help control the price of the harvest so everyone could make money. Drawback – a farmer with more land to harvest may be limited to how much they can plant, which would reduce the amount of money they can make.
Activity #2: Maximizing Plant Production
Students will perform an experiment growing plants under different conditions and monitor their growth to determine which environment is best for maximizing plant production.
Activity Instructions:
〉 Hand out the student worksheet.
〉 Divide the class into groups and assign each group a number.
〉 Distribute the activity materials.
〉 Introduce the activity and guide students as needed.
〉 If using spray bottles, have students prepare the plant food solution by following the directions on the package for preparing a solution of plant food and water for one bottle. The other bottle will contain plain tap water.
〉 If using individual group cups, instruct students to prepare the plant food solution by following the directions on the package for preparing a solution of plant food and water.
〉 After completion, facilitate a discussion using the questions for the activity.
〉 Students will continue to water plants daily.
〉 Students will continue to monitor the plants’ growth and track the results on the Growth Chart provided on the student worksheet.
〉 Measure height as a function of time and calculate averages for each group.
〉 Use your discretion for how long to continue the experiment.
〉 Discuss the final results – which conditions produced the best growth, least growth, and discuss why
Activity Results: Students performed an experiment to determine the best growing environment for their plants to maximize plant production and profitability.
Activity Discussion:
〉 Have any of you helped your family plant a tree or flowers in your yard? If so, was it similar to our activity? - Allow students to share their experience.
〉 Which plant or plants do you think will grow the best and why? - Allow students to share their experience.
〉 Why do you think plants need plenty of sunshine and water to grow? - Sample answers may include: Plants need water and sun to make their own food energy so they can grow. Just like we need to eat healthy food and drink plenty of water to give us energy so we can grow.
CAREER INSIGHT
Career Highlight: This lesson plan highlights some of the concepts and skills farmers and ranchers practice to grow food. See the Employers in My Area section to contact businesses and organizations in your area about classroom demonstrations, onsite visits, or other additional career exposure opportunities.
Featured Career:
Farm & Ranch Manager
Career Descriptions: Farmers and ranchers plan, direct, or coordinate the management or operation of farms, ranches, greenhouses, aquaculture operations, nurseries, timber tracts, or other agricultural establishments. May hire, train, or supervise farm workers or contract for services to carry out the day-today activities of the managed operation. May engage in or supervise planting, cultivating, harvesting, financial, or marketing activities.
Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers typically do the following:
〉 Supervise all steps of the crop production and ranging process, including planting, fertilizing, harvesting, and herding
〉 Determine how to raise crops or livestock by evaluating factors such as market conditions, disease, soil conditions, and the availability of federal programs
〉 Select and purchase supplies, such as seed, fertilizers, and farm machinery
〉 Ensure that all farming equipment is properly maintained
〉 Adapt their duties to the seasons, weather conditions, or a crop’s growing cycle
〉 Maintain farm facilities, such as water pipes, hoses, fences, and animal shelters
〉 Serve as the sales agent for livestock, crops, and dairy products
〉 Record financial, tax, production, and employee information
Other Names for this Career: Farmer, Rancher, Grain Farmer, Ranch Manager, Sow Farm Manager, Accredited Farm Manager (AFM), Farm Operator, Rancher, Farm Manager, Dairy Farmer, Cash Crop Farmer, Agricultural Manager
