Foreword

Agriculture in the Classroom is an initiative to educate children about the importance of agriculture in our daily lives. With programs in all 50 states, and the U.S. Territories, and similar endeavors in other countries such as Canada, Agriculture in the Classroom has an impact not only nationwide, but in many parts of the world.

In 1981, United States Department of Agriculture Secretary John Block recognized that because of the urbanization of our society most children were 2 and 3 generations removed from any contact with production agriculture. Their parents, and in many cases their grandparents, were not raised on a farm as in past generations. This fact has caused us to take for granted the processes involved in producing, processing, transporting and marketing the abundant and affordable food and fiber supply we depend on for survival. To help correct this, Agriculture in the Classroom was initiated, with USDA taking the leading role in helping states to organize and develop their own Ag in the Classroom programs.

Texas Farm Bureau began developing its Agriculture in the Classroom program in 1985. The success of Ag in the Classroom has been due to the efforts of our County Farm Bureau organizations. They introduce the program to the schools in their counties, provide funding for resource material, and develop and coordinate follow-up activities such as Ag Fairs.

The original Texas Agriculture Resource Guide for 4th Grade was written in 1986-87 and piloted in a number of schools around the state. It has been used extensively since then. In 1993, resource guides were completed for grades 1-3.

The video "What's To Eat?" was introduced to complement the resource guide. It presents a comprehensive view of Texas agriculture and is recommended for any grade level as an introduction to the study of agriculture in our state.

The video series "Let's Visit Texas" was completed in 1992 and provides a geographic tour of the Lone Star State in 4 volumes. In 1998, the "Let's Visit Texas" Supplement was introduced to give teachers lesson plans, ideas and activities that complement the videos.

There have been many changes in education in the state since the Texas Agriculture Resource Guide for 4th Grade was first introduced. In order to reflect those changes and make the resource material more "teacher-friendly," we introduced Food and Fiber for the 21st Century in 2000. This new resource guide has been written for teachers of grades 1-6. Each lesson has been correlated to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), in addition to covering Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) objectives in reading, writing, math, and science.

Food and Fiber for the 21st Century gives the student numerous opportunities for exploring geography and history, for developing Internet-based research projects, and for practicing their writing skills. Science-based activities in plant and soil science, and a unit in biotechnology are included, all with agriculture as the theme.

Lessons in Food and Fiber for the 21st Century are based on ideas submitted by teachers attending Texas Farm Bureau's Summer Agricultural Institute at Tarleton State University. Those ideas were compiled and edited, activities added, and then placed in lesson plan format by another team of dedicated classroom teachers.

We will continue to depend on the hard work of our County Farm Bureau organizations to make Ag in the Classroom successful.

Remember that everything we eat and wear comes from agriculture.

Comments can be sent to Texas Farm Bureau, Research, Education and Policy Development Dept., P.O. Box 2689, Waco, TX 76702-2689 or call (254) 772-3030.