Summer Archives
Kelly HuntColumbia, TN - Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation (TFBF) |
"My grandfather used to say that once in life you need a lawyer, a policeman, a doctor, and a preacher, but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer" - Barbara Schoepp
Kelly Hunt, TN Farm Bureau Federation
Most people associate “Farm Bureau” with insurance, so let me begin by saying that the TN Farm Bureau Federation (TFBF) does much more than that. There is a slew of organizations housed within TFBF, including Young Farmers & Ranchers, Foundation for Ag in the Classroom (AITC), and Farm Bureau Women. All of these organizations are based on the idea that we are all affected by agriculture every single day. TFBF is dedicated to educating people with accurate information about farming, livestock, and crop-raising. The US is in the midst of a "farm to table" facade, where we seem to love the idea of "farming" but often lack adequate knowledge to discuss the many controversies surrounding it. We love to use buzzwords like "GMO", "organic", "pesticide-free", "antibiotic-free", and "natural", but we don't always know what those actually mean. (For instance, clementines and seedless watermelons are NOT GMOs). This summer, I educated people on how to wholly, accurately, and effectively debate agriculture issues.
I specifically worked with the AITC program, an organization that is focused on improving Ag literacy in our schools. AITC is a national organization that has thousands of lesson plans (with correlating state standards) available completely free online for teachers to use in their classroom. Because AITC is not federally funded, they do not fall under the requirements of IDEA which requires schools to provide activities for Special Education; moreover, lessons for Special Education classrooms is completely unprecedented in the national organization.
I spent last school year adapting many of those lesson plans for Special Education classrooms. Each lesson plan has a variety of difficulty levels so that a teacher can manipulate each activity to fit the needs of their student. I spent the summer producing, debuting, and explaining these adapted lesson plans to teachers, administrators, and other Farm Bureau employees across the state of TN. We reached over 400 teachers in the first 3 weeks of June. The final week of June was spent in Kansas City, MO at the National Ag in the Classroom conference. I led a workshop of professors, teachers, farmers, and Farm Bureau employees from all over the country. My presentation was debuted nearly 15 times at a variety of places across TN & the US. Additionally, I gave out samples of my curricula at each workshop, and now have my own page on the TFBF website (http://www.tnfarmbureau.org/modified-curriculum-for-students-with-disabilities) !!!
I was in awe, in love, and inspired by the people I worked with, met, and learned from over the last 8 weeks. I learned how to let farmers tell their story, encourage others, and encourage accurate information! The average American is 2.5 generations removed from the farm, less than 2% of the American population is involved in farming & ranching, and nearly 16.4 million US citizens think that chocolate milk comes from a brown cow (what??!?!). Many of you know my history in 4-H, and this stemmed my love for agriculture. I rejuvenated that love this summer, and I am honored to have worked with TFBF this summer.