Sustainable Agriculture
 |
| Lehighton Area High School grounds |
Lehighton Area School District has something many other districts don't -- fertile land. Surrounded by farms of all sorts -- including tree, hay, soybean, and corn -- students view agriculture as a viable option, but it comes with a financial burden.
This bumper sticker adorns cars and trucks all over the area and while it's easy to understand how true the catchphrase is, there is great difficulty making farming an economically feasible reality.
The Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS) is a research center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. In June 2003, CIAS announced a free resource for educators: Toward a Sustainable Agriculture is a free curriculum that addresses the social, environmental and economic impacts of agriculture. The curriculum provides a critical analysis of agricultural and food systems and helps students understand new concepts through hands-on examples.
The curriculum includes six modules, designed to be incorporated into existing classes:
- Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture
- Corn, Beans, and Burgers: field crops in sustainable agriculture
- Fur, Feathers, and Fins: animals in sustainable agriculture
- Apples, Beets and Zinnias: sustainable horticulture
- A Growing Market: organic agriculture
Each module will take 5 to 15 hours, depending on how much depth the teacher wants. Each module includes background information for the teacher, suggested classroom activities, evaluation materials, and suggestions on where to go for more information (cias.wisc.edu).
Can this concept be put into action?
Yes.
No comments:
Post a Comment