With assist from Farm Credit score, Ag within the Classroom Basis sparks curiosity in farming, meals methods, and ag careers
August 7, 2025 — Educating as we speak’s college students in regards to the significance of California agriculture is critically vital to defending the way forward for farming and ranching within the Golden State. For practically 40 years, the California Basis for Agriculture within the Classroom has been a frontrunner in that effort and is continuous to innovate to satisfy the wants of California school rooms.
“We’ve been round since 1986, and our entire mission is to assist academics and college students in incorporating agriculture into their classroom as a result of agriculture impacts our each day lives. It’s the meals we eat; it’s the garments we put on – it impacts the whole lot that we do,” stated Amanda Fletcher, the Basis’s government director.
Throughout 2024, Fletcher stated the Basis’s packages reached over 1 million pre-Ok to highschool college students by participating greater than 34,000 academics throughout California. Among the many Basis’s most-used sources was the 22ndannual problem of What’s Growin’ On, a 16-page interactive scholar newspaper funded partially by Farm Credit score. Greater than 100,000 copies have been distributed.
Kevin Ralph, California President for AgWest Farm Credit score, stated California’s Farm Credit score organizations have supported the Basis’s work for a few years.
“Farm Credit score has been proud to assist What’s Growin’ On for greater than 15 years – and actually elevated our assist this 12 months – as a result of it’s confirmed to be an progressive and efficient manner of teaching third by way of eighth graders about all of the features of California agriculture,” Ralph stated.
Jacob DeBoer, Regional Advertising Supervisor with American AgCredit, agreed that the Basis continues to do nice work.
“What makes the Basis’s efforts so profitable is that it comes up with methods to essentially attain college students,” DeBoer stated. “This 12 months, the theme is ‘Think about Your Future in Agriculture,’ which is very vital given the necessity to appeal to college students to think about careers in ag-related fields. In addition to details about farming, the newspaper and different packages focus on careers in fields together with tech, advertising and marketing, soil science and ag mechanics. There’s nothing like drones to seize a younger scholar’s creativeness.”
All seven Farm Credit score organizations serving California – AgWest Farm Credit score, American AgCredit, CoBank, Colusa-Glenn Farm Credit score, Fresno Madera Farm Credit score, Golden State Farm Credit score and Yosemite Farm Credit score – are financially supporting the Basis’s work. They’re all a part of the nationwide Farm Credit score System – the biggest supplier of credit score to U.S. agriculture.
Fletcher stated the Basis acquired its begin in 1981 as a program launched by the California Farm Bureau Federation. It was spun off 5 years later as an affiliated 501c3 nonprofit. At this time, seven – quickly to be eight – workers develop age-appropriate curricula utilizing a variety of distribution strategies.
For instance, a preferred a part of this system is the digital California Farm Day. This 12 months, 31,000 college students watched one among two age-appropriate, hour-long packages together with video and dwell Q&A classes with ag specialists. One phase confirmed a pest advisor strolling by way of a broccoli area analyzing vegetation for bugs. He defined that some bugs have been useful, and others weren’t and talked in regards to the steps he took to change into a pest advisor.
“We had over 800 questions requested of the dwell hosts. Loads of the children who have been on that broadcast have been from city and extra deprived colleges who don’t all the time have the power to go on area journeys, so this provided slightly window into agriculture and the way it impacts their lives,” she stated.
“We in all probability work with 60% city courses and 40% from the agricultural areas. Our goal demographic is these city and deprived colleges as a result of we need to get into colleges in L.A. and the Bay Space to verify they’re getting the identical schooling about agriculture that college students in counties which have that wealthy agriculture historical past have entry to.”
This 12 months, a grant from the California Division of Meals and Agriculture allowed the Basis to develop an interactive web site referred to as KnowinWhatsGrowin.com. Fletcher stated it matches the state’s fourth-grade curriculum and focuses on specialty crops grown in several components of the state.
Santa Clara County college students can study mushrooms, for instance – how they’re grown and harvested, dietary data, merchandise that use mushrooms and even recipes.
As a result of the Basis strives “to continue to grow, as a result of should you keep stagnant that doesn’t work when the purpose is to get the knowledge out to the populace,” the workers is at the moment starting a four-year undertaking to develop a month-to-month curriculum for highschool college students that outlines ag-related careers. The lesson plans will tie into math, science and ag mechanics.
“Then we’re going to be engaged on growing an internship program that can go together with that. It’ll be thrilling within the subsequent couple of years as soon as that will get off the bottom,” she stated.
“We need to create supplies which might be simple and fast for academics to implement in order that they have good programming for his or her college students and to make it possible for the subsequent technology is knowledgeable about the place their meals and fiber comes from.”
About Farm Credit score
AgWest Farm Credit score, American AgCredit, Colusa-Glenn Farm Credit score, CoBank, Fresno Madera Farm Credit score, Golden State Farm Credit score and Yosemite Farm Credit score are cooperatively owned lending establishments offering agriculture and rural communities with a reliable supply of credit score. For greater than 100 years, the Farm Credit score System has specialised in financing farmers, ranchers, farmer-owned cooperatives, rural utilities and agribusinesses. Farm Credit score gives a broad vary of mortgage merchandise and monetary providers, together with long-term actual property loans, working traces of credit score, tools and facility loans, money administration and appraisal and leasing providers…the whole lot a “rising” enterprise wants. For extra data, go to www.farmcreditalliance.com
In regards to the California Basis for Agriculture within the Classroom
California Basis for Agriculture within the Classroom (AITC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit devoted to rising agricultural consciousness and understanding amongst California’s educators and college students. AITC develops correct, teacher-tested academic supplies, gives coaching and packages for educators, and collaborates with organizations to spotlight the significance of agriculture in each day life. By way of initiatives comparable to complete lesson plans, the What’s Growin’ On? scholar newspaper, the Think about this… writing contest, Digital Farm Day, the annual instructor convention, and plenty of extra packages, AITC fosters agricultural literacy and helps the way forward for agriculture – impacting over 1 million college students yearly. For extra data, go to www.learnaboutag.org.
