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Reconnecting with Agriculture in the Classroom
Reconnecting with Agriculture in the Classroom
How Iowa teachers are confronting a growing disconnection from agriculture.
By Alex Potter
Although Linn County educator Melissa James didn’t grow up on a farm, she consistently incorporates agricultural topics into the botany and biology classes she teaches at Center Point-Urbana High School. With her biology degree from Iowa State University and insights from students who live on farms, James has picked up some agricultural knowledge over the past 33 years — but she is always looking for ways to fill in the gaps.
“I’m a biologist. That’s my first passion. As I grew up, I discovered I loved botany and horticulture. Botany has a natural tie-in with agriculture, but I also try to pull agriculture into my other courses,” explains James. “As a teacher, I’m always researching new activities, so when I stumbled upon Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation’s resources, I thought, ‘holy cow, these are fabulous!’”
The Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation (IALF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating students about the global significance of agriculture. This organization addresses a growing nationwide problem: agricultural knowledge is decreasing as more individuals leave rural areas. Executive Director Kelly Foss considers bringing agriculture into the classroom a solution but realizes it’s easier said than done.
“Often, teachers don’t have a background in agriculture. Even students living in rural communities who pass cornfields daily don’t connect with agriculture anymore,” Foss admits. “People take agriculture for granted; we just don’t think about it's significance.”
Michael Bechtel, Wartburg associate professor of science education and IALF Education Advisory Council member, also recognizes educators' challenges while teaching STEM.
“Teaching agriculture can be scary for teachers. It can be difficult to explain concepts and for students to connect to their learning,” Bechtel says.
That’s where IALF steps in. The organization supplies educators with everything they need to bring agriculture into their classrooms — from free lesson plans to grants, book kits and more. IALF's Education Advisory Council is the “first and last sets of eyes,” ensuring resources meaningfully connect to agriculture while following Iowa Core science and social studies standards.
“If we try to get our communities reconnected with agriculture only from a scientific perspective, we’re going to lose students. If we try to do it without the Iowa Core standards, then we can’t involve education,” explains Bechtel.
IALF also offers professional development opportunities for educators. During the two-day sessions, educators visit farms, wineries, meat lockers and dairy facilities to learn directly from agriculture experts. IALF Teacher Leaders also model lesson plans, which made James feel certain she could bring IALF's materials into the classroom.
“That’s the best part. IALF didn’t tell me how to implement these plans. Instead, they asked me what parts I would incorporate and what resources I still needed from them,” says James. “As a science teacher, I always do lab experiments first to work out any kinks. These professional development days helped me do that on a larger scale.”
Comfortable is exactly how Foss and Bechtel want educators to feel when implementing IALF resources.
“We’ve found that if educators teach through the lens of agriculture, they suddenly become more confident, and students buy into what they’re learning,” adds Bechtel.
IALF lesson plans have been implemented at schools in all 99 counties, reaching nearly 180,000 students in 2023 alone. James champions agriculture in her classes at Center PointUrbana High School in many ways. In discussions, she ties current events to her lessons, like the difficulties Iowa farmers faced in 2020 due to the pandemic, derecho and tariffs.
She also took advantage of IALF’s Agriculture in the Classroom Teacher Supplement Grant to install eight raised gardening beds in 2021. Every fall, her students research and choose cold-weather crops to grow, like lettuce and radishes. After harvest, students take their produce home and leftovers are donated to the school’s cafeteria salad bar.
One of James’ favorite units to teach revolves around George Washington Carver’s work in agriculture. Her students research Carver’s methods to reduce soil depletion and how he convinced farmers to rotate their crops with species of legumes, like soybeans.
“I’m a George Washington Carver fan, so we take time to talk about his research and why soybeans are one of the two most important crops Iowa farmers grow,” says James.
Her efforts to reconnect students with agriculture have not gone unnoticed. In 2023, James was awarded IALF’s “Excellence in Teaching About Agriculture” Award, which honors non-agriculture educators who integrate agriculture into their classrooms. Through the work of Iowa educators, IALF is hopeful more people will understand the importance of agriculture.
“As time passes, fewer people feel connected to agriculture,” she says. “But that’s changing, and it takes organizations like IALF to make that change happen.”
