Farming

Positives

• The narrator describes the connection between the health of the crops she grows, the environment, and the health of the consumers who buy her products.
  
• The farmer discusses sustainable agriculture practices such as cover crops, starting seeds in greenhouses, and using organic methods to produce large amounts of food.
• The webpage has teaching tips related to local agriculture and agricultural history to try in the classroom with this resource.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should be familiar with basic agricultural terms such as crops, pesticides, organic farming, and yield.
• Students should understand how soil and crop health can be affected by intense rainfall events, drought, and pesticides.
• The second link in the body of the text is broken.

Differentiation

• A review of basic farming practices and terms such as crop rotation, harvesting, yield, organic agriculture, pesticides, fertilizer, and photosynthesis may be helpful before engaging with this video and article.
• Before watching the video and reading the article, ask students what types of fresh produce they eat and where it comes from.
• Consider having students research local farms and farmers' markets in their community and see if there are any community supported agriculture programs in their area.
• There are interdisciplinary opportunities to discuss economics and business when examining small businesses, the farm bill, food prices, and farming subsidies.