Farming Food

Grade Level: 5-8
Subject: Multidisciplinary

Beginning June 6, 2008, at least 228 people across 23 states got sick from eating raw tomatoes tainted with the salmonella bacteria. The affected produce was most likely from Florida or Mexico, although the investigation is not yet complete. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggests that people not eat raw plum, round, or Roma tomatoes unless they know they have come from a "safe" state or from their own garden.

Meanwhile, restaurants—including McDonald's and Taco Bell—said their stores have quit serving those types of raw tomatoes, until further notice.

This is not the first time consumers and businesses that serve food have been affected by tainted produce, nor will it be the last. Although food safety is better understood in today's agricultural systems, much more food is grown, shipped, and handled worldwide than ever before.

Humans began cultivating crops thousands of years ago, changing the human way of life forever. By creating fairly predictable and high-yield food sources, families could live permanently in one area, instead of needing to migrate with the seasons.

Today, many farmers rely on technology to improve production—using satellites, chemicals, and genetics to boost crop yields and produce vegetables that stay fresher longer. These improvements also benefit consumers. Shoppers can find a variety of food products and prices are generally affordable.

During this week's lesson, you will step back in time to find out how farming developed in the United States and before the nation's founding. You will also learn about today's various agricultural careers and compare farming facts among states.

Farming America

Start your food journey in the Ag Classroom with America's history of Growing a Nation. Explore the Multimedia Program to launch the program.

Start with Lesson 1: Seeds of Change. After listening to the introduction, use the screen menu on the right-hand side to browse through the related images and questions. When done with each of the 12 screens, write a few sentences that summarize what you learned. You can replay the audio or you can read the audio transcript, by clicking the arrow next to the page title to show the text; the arrow displays after the audio completes. When done with lesson 1, discuss your summaries with classmates.

Move on to Lesson 2: From Defeat to Victory to learn about how life changed from the Great Depression through the end of World War II. Continue to summarize the description presented with each screen.

In Lesson 3: Prosperity & Challenges, you will discover how farming changed radically during the 1950s and 1960s. How did improving farming efficiency change American culture? In Lesson 4, covering 1970 to the present, you will find out how agriculture is evolving Into a New Millennium.

List the top 10 events, since the 17th Century, that you think have had the strongest influence on agriculture in the United States. For each event, categorize whether it is related mostly to changes in science, technology, economics, politics, society, or consumer habits.

Now, check out the Ag Facts for your state (Acrobat Reader required). Compare and contrast with another state in a different region of the country. Do these facts relate at all to any of the top 10 events you listed? What factors, do you think, have made agricultural life and products different between the two? Discuss your analysis with classmates.

Agricultural Careers

Jump to the Ag Classroom's Teen Scene, enter, and then select the section, AgroWorld. Click the TV set on the right to watch the movie. Can you list 10 or more products you own or use that are directly linked to agriculture?

Of course, agriculture involves more people than just the farmers. Many different types of professionals are key to the production, packaging, and delivery of food. To learn more about some of these professionals, click the tab titled Career Opportunities, then browse some of the Career Choices & Salaries.

What kinds of specialty fields are involved in agriculture? Do you ever see different types of professionals who are involved in agriculture in some way (for example, people who deliver produce or fertilizer, restaurant workers, vendors at a local farmers market, etc.)? If so, where have you seen them and what exactly do they do? Can you link any of them, directly or indirectly, to your personal food sources?

If you have time, launch The Pizza Explorer. Click Start, then Start The Pizza Explorer. Choose the Left Brain Interface, the Right Brain Interface, or visit The Configurator to help you decide on which direction to take.

Cultivating A Lifestyle

Now take time to explore the evolution of farming on a global scale. To do that, head over to the Agropolis Museum in France.

Here, begin with the History of food and agriculture, reviewing Pre-agricultural times, Agricultural times, and Agro-Industrial times.

What significant inventions helped to improve the farming process? In what ways did social groups change as a result of improved farming and the domestication of animals? In what ways did the transfer of plant species from their native areas to non-native areas improve agriculture? How did the transfer shape the food culture in different regions?

Next, take a look at Farmers and farming all over the world. Compare the farmers and their farming conditions by clicking on the countries featured on the map:

In what ways do the growing conditions influence what the farmers can produce? What are the economic challenges that each farmer must manage? How does the federal government affect each farmer and his farming operation? In what ways do farming families fit into their local culture? Have the farmers been affected by any global conditions or trends?

Lastly at this site, browse the Banquet of Humanity to compare the diets of different regions. How do the major foods consumed by residents relate to the geography of where they live?

Newspaper Activities

Look through issues of The Sacramento Bee to find a news or feature story related to agriculture. What are the social, political, scientific, technological, economic, or historical forces affecting the people in this story? Develop a poster collage using images and words cut out from the newspaper or magazines to illustrate the key forces.