In an effort to keep kids interested and informed about farming, the non-profit educational foundation, "Agriculture in the Classroom" is continuing to build on its success from the last three years.
As teachers prepare their curriculum for the upcoming school year, more requests for educational farming materials are coming in to the Oregon Department of Agriculture. Hands-on classroom activities, books, videos, and other resources have found their way into more than 2,300 classrooms. Agriculture in the Classroom Executive Director Jessica Budge says kids nowadays don't always associate the food they eat with traditional farming, and that's why this program is important.
Budge: “We try to make those connections because, as we all know, if students and, later, the general public has an understanding of that, our world is going to be a better place and agriculture is going to have a stronger market and a stronger understanding. When those students grow up to be policy makers and lawmakers, they will have a base to fall back on.”
The O.D.A. says at least 120,000 students have been reached by the program over the last three years.
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