Agriculture arguably utilizes a more diverse range of specialists than most industries, requiring software engineers, advanced mechanics, nutritionists, chemists, and much more. Teachers across the state are inspiring the passions of the next generation, so this summer, the N.C. Soybean Producers Association partnered with Nourish the Future (NtF), a non-profit foundation, to deliver a professional development workshop meant to equip science teachers with the content and resources needed to incorporate agricultural topics into their classrooms. The two-day agenda organized by NtF incorporated a mix of lab activities, scientific discussion points, and trips to local farms to give teachers a firm understanding of where their food comes from, something that they can take back to the hundreds of students they inspire. We hope that students will see that agriculture pulls from many different fields that are all important for creating the end products of food, feed, and fuel.
The impact of this workshop is best summarized by Wendi Williams, a Science Teacher from Siler City:
“Two days of personal development in August? That’s definitely not at the top of every teacher’s “gotta do” list, but I’m beyond happy that I decided to go. This professional development experience was more like a mini agriculture and science camp for adults than a professional development session. We were constantly engaged through a variety of activities from the very start, learning content while experiencing best practices with myriad modeled teaching strategies. It’s so odd that as science teachers our curricula typically ignore agriculture, but our activities and discussions made me question why ag science is relegated solely to the ag departments at our school and think about how I can pull more of this into my courses. I understand time crunches are real, but if we seek to make content relevant in any subject, it’s tough to beat the topic of food and where it comes from. Math, science, history, finance, geography, tech innovation, health and wellness, etc., all have agricultural entry points and NtF provided us with numerous resources to kickstart our thinking. As a bonus, we were able to visit two locations on-site and meet people who are immersed in agriculture for their livelihoods and could speak to the changes they’ve witnessed in evolving technology. It was an enthralling two days for me, not only for what we were provided with instruction and resource-wise but also for being treated like a professional by incredibly attuned educators from NtF.”
