Improving Youth Agricultural Education through Interactive Activities at the University of Florida Teaching Farm.

Agricultural education is increasingly more important as non-farming consumers have begun voting towards legislator that directly affects the American farming industry. Agriculture is a unique science involving a broad array of disciplines, from botany and meteorology to computer science and genetics. This creates a challenge in teaching agricultural concepts to middle and high school students, because the average American is far removed from the source of their food, and unaware of the multifaceted processes that are involved in the production, packaging, and transport of agricultural products. In order to address this information gap, the Agronomy-Soils club at the University of Florida is developing a two-step teaching process to provide a holistic understanding of agronomy and soil science to middle and high school students.

            The agronomy teaching farm at the University of Florida has long been a great tool for education. However, the farm is fairly limited to walking farm tours, lacking the essential interactive experience that aids in the learning process. Through the agronomy lab, the club aims to improving the amount of interaction with farming by improving the amount of activities in the lab area. Furthermore, the farm itself will be better timed to ensure that there is one crop ready to harvest nearly year-round, ensuring that the visiting students will have an opportunity to directly interact with a farm through harvesting.

            This will be accomplished through a series of projects devised by individual members. Examples of interactive projects already completed are a spinning composter and a rainwater collection irrigation system. By August 2014, we hope to add 2 more outdoor learning stations, and 4 more indoor learning stations, in order to make a more educational experience for visiting students.