Farmers and agricultural organizations around the country are stepping up to help young people with at-home online learning
While we try to adjust and get used to this new “normal” — kids at home, parents lending their work computers so students can do homework, social distancing, etc. — we are always on the look out for helpful farm-related resources for students and parents alike. We have gathered a list of online agriculture options to aid students in their journey for continuous learning, even when school is closed.
The resources below cover everything from nutrition, STEM, general agriculture, dairy, farming, ranching, and so much more!
Beef
- Missouri Beef — Beef Education in the Classroom has everything from activity books, coloring books, beef toolkit, and so much more.
- National Ag in the Classroom (Beef) — Students will explain the importance of the beef cattle industry, including the products cattle produce, the production process from farm to plate, and how cattle can utilize and obtain energy from grass and other forage.
- Beef It’s What’s for Dinner — Take a virtual reality tour of farms and ranches across the United States to see how America’s beef farmers and ranchers raise cattle to produce high-quality beef.
Corn & Soybeans
- Corn in the Classroom — Informing students on agriculture allows the next generation to better understand how today’s food, fiber, and fuel is produced.
- Missouri Corn Activity Book — This activity book includes corn facts, geography, corn maze, coloring page, word search, and more!
- Missouri Soybean Activity Book — Simon the Soybean is filling his truck with biodiesel, a product made from soybeans! Students will be able to learn more about the many things made from soy.
Dairy
- American Dairy Association North East — In a weekly video series with Farmer Katie and her cow, Snickerdoodle, she will teach kids about caring for calves, cow car, cow nutrition, and milking.
- Virtual Dairy Farm Tours — Last year, the American Dairy Association North East hosted virtual farm tours for students to watch in their classrooms, and those videos have now been made publicly available online. These videos are even divided between grade levels for a more depth look at the dairy farms.
- Midwest Dairy — Curriculum for elementary and middle school that includes STEM concepts and shows students where milk comes from and how dairy contributes to our world. They have a long list including dairy acitivies, dairy lesson plans, and so much more.
- Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association — The Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association, launched a new “Family Resources” addition to their popular dairy-themed website for all ages to enjoy from the comfort of their homes.
- Undeniably Dairy — The National Dairy Council brings students the option to learn from home with STEM curriculum, virtual farm tours, and virtual experiences.
Pork
- Pork Checkoff — The National Pork Board has compiled a one-stop resource for a number of pork resources for youth. These fun, interactive resources are categorized by audience.
- Pork Check Off (Youth & Education) — The Pork Checkoff also has a website for youth covering swine science, Skillathon & Quiz Bowl, youth production resources, show pigs, and occupational profiles.
Poultry
- US Poultry — On this website, US Poultry covers topics covering agriculture, eggs, family & consume sciences, food safety, and poultry.
- Indiana Poultry — Here are some fun activities and experiments to try at home or in class to learn all about poultry.
STEM
- Kansas Corn STEM — These free resources can be found in the lesson library and can be used online or printed for use in packets for off-line learning. The Kansas Corn STEM continuous learning lessons help students learn about science and agriculture using tools like virtual breakout box activities, videos, and at-home experiments that can be done with household items.
- On the Farm STEM — The On the Farm program features free lessons, activities, online learning tools, and enriching professional development events.
- Feed the World — Proven STEM curriculum that connects Ohio science standards with engaging lab activities. Explore these hands-on, inquiry-based science lessons and make agriculture relevant in your classroom.
Wheat
- Wheat World — Resources include wheat research, wheat production, wheat facts, and wheat industry for online learning.
- Ag in the Classroom (Wheat) — This website includes everything from curriculum involving wheat, books to read, and so much more.
Miscellaneous
- Nourish the Future — The curriculum covers topics like Biotechnology, Energy and Ethanol, Plant Anatomy and Growth Stages, Soil Science and Sustainability, and the Role of Clean Water in a Healthy Ecosystem.
- Sure Champ Classroom Resources — This resource includes activities for cattle, pigs, sheep/goats, basic nutrition, lifestyle, CDE help and much more!
- National Ag in the Classroom — Great resource for students and parents including state ag facts, ag smarts, career seeker, ag today, games, and virtual tours.
- Government by the People — Students will explain the roles of public boards in their community that make decisions impacting their community and agriculture. Students will participate as board members when they are eligible.
- Choose My Plate — This nutritional resource helps students better understand food group targets and staying healthy in a time like this.
- Beyond the Barn Door — Beyond the Barn Door is put on by the Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom page. This page contains video links as well as references to a look at agriculture all around you.
- My American Farm — My American Farm is a place for young learners to explore and discover our food, fiber and energy with free games and educational resources.
- National FFA Organization — The National FFA Organization has a resource for students that include virtual tours and exciting lesson plans.
- AgEdNet.com — AgEdNet.com is an online agriculture curriculum featuring almost 1,300 lessons, lesson extras and daily news for the agriculture education classroom. Extras including PowerPoints, vocabulary puzzles, worksheets, glossaries, prescreened internet links, and quizzes.
- GrowNextGen — With a primary focus on biology, chemistry, food science, and environmental science standards, the site includes e-learning courses and a network of educators and industry leaders to answer questions and provide resources to support the lessons.
Be sure to book mark this resource as we will be adding to it when new resources become available. Do you know of a helpful resource that should be on here that we missed? Please email khulshof@agdaily.com for any additional sites that should be added.
