Planting SeedsIn the Winter
I recently saw a TikTok video where a woman was explaining why she doesn’t eat hamburgers: “because hamburgers come from pork.” I also saw an Instagram Reel that had a young man explain that chocolate milk comes from brown cows and strawberry milk comes from cows that eat strawberries.
Maybe the videos were fake and created for likes and shares, but maybe I’m being optimistic. Maybe they really don’t have any idea where their food comes from.
When I ask students where their food comes from, the first answer is usually “the grocery store.” I coax them a little, asking where their food was before the store. After thinking for a few seconds, they mention a farm, but usually only after questioning and waiting for a response.
Our Ag in the Classroom (AITC) presentation “There’s Ag on MyPlate” teaches students that every aspect of their plate, including dairy, grains, vegetables, fruit, and protein, comes from agriculture. Our AITC presenters explain how wheat becomes flour with a hand-threshing activity with wheat grown in Cook County by Farm Bureau Board President Janet McCabe. They learn that all ingredients in a pizza, including wheat, cheese, tomatoes, and toppings, are from agriculture. They also learn how much added sugar is in the food they eat by counting out teaspoons correlating to grams, shocked and amazed to learn that one can of Coca-Cola has nearly 10 teaspoons of sugar in it.
For some (I hope most!), connecting hamburgers to beef cattle is easy. However, tracing the origin of your Flamin’ Hot Cheetos can be a little more difficult (they’re made from corn and dairy, among other ingredients).
I love looking at ingredient lists and researching all the steps it takes to bring that item from farm to my table. I think that most people accept the food for the item it is: a hamburger, chicken nuggets, pizza, or Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
That’s why Ag in the Classroom is so important. Our programs teach not only where your food comes from, but all of the careers, science, and technology involved in the process.
Last school year, our AITC program saw 28,629 students in 1,261 classrooms in 239 schools. Our educational presentations would not be possible without our eight wonderful presenters: Barbara Bhojraj, Jim Bloomstrand, Mike Galassini, Wayne Kolweier, Sarah Koukol, Kathy Lesser, Kathy Martz, and Betsy Yager. Our scheduling would not be as seamless, and our presentations not as creative, colorful, or fun, without the help of AITC Assistant Jill Drover. Our program would not be presented in schools unless teachers, school counselors, principals, and curriculum coordinators found the value in agricultural education and wanted to share the importance of knowing where their food comes from with their students.
As a member of Illinois Farm Bureau and Cook County Farm Bureau, a portion of your dues helps support Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom and the Cook County Farm Bureau AITC program. Thank YOU for supporting agricultural education for Cook County youth. Our educational efforts and hands-on learning would not be possible without your support.
For more information about Cook County Farm Bureau and our Ag in the Classroom Program, visit www.cookcfb.org. To schedule a presentation for your school, visit https://bit.ly/AITCplease.