Education Commons^™

Becoming Agricultured: Creating An Agriculture Literacy Podcast For Consumers, Madalyn C. Souza

Agricultural Education and Communication

Today’s consumers want to become more aware of where their food comes from. There is a need and a desire to bridge the gap between consumers and production agriculture. One way to reach consumers is through audio podcasts. Podcasts are digital audio recordings that are streamed online. The podcast Becoming Agricultured will be a platform to show the relationship between agriculture and the environment, food, fiber and energy, animals, lifestyle, the economy and technology. The podcast is aimed to tell agriculture's story through factual research and personal accounts of those involved in different sectors of the agriculture industry and cultivate …

Creating A Livestock Show From The Beginning For The Benefit Of Youth In The Agriculture Industry And Continuing The Tradition Of Showing, Chloé Fowler, Matthew Durian

Agricultural Education and Communication

Youth throughout the country have been shown to benefit through organizations focused on leadership and real-world tangible skills. Organizations such as the National FFA Organization and 4-H Youth Development are key organizations for this growth. Livestock shows are another layer to these organizations and youth development. “Livestock shows provide interactions through different environments that expose participants to different cultures,” (Davis, 1998).

For these reasons it is important to provide more opportunities to the next generation of agriculture. There are currently 28 different livestock jackpots within the state of California throughout one year, (CJLA, 2020). Due to the large geographic landscape …

Creating Online Training Modules For Student Employees At The California Polytechnic State University Dairy Using Train Trac, Olivia K. Taylor

Agricultural Education and Communication

The purpose of this project was to create training modules for the Cal Poly Dairy. The author’s goal was to incorporate the safety aspect of dairy work into the modules as well. To properly obtain all the necessary information for the modules, the author first had to compile lists from the Cal Poly Dairy’s written standard operating procedures. From here, the majority of time was used to gather video and picture content using a surface tablet that would later be used in the online modules. Once the content was gathered, it had to be organized into files for each module …

Agricultural Sciences Outreach Program, Maghan Lea England, Sophie Lorraine Johnston

Agricultural Education and Communication

The College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences (CAFES) mission statement and vision of the Agricultural Education and Communication Department is to develop future leaders, educators, and communicators to advance and advocate for the agricultural industry in a global economy (AGED, 2018). Student organizations, such as Agriculture Ambassadors and Agriculture Leadership Society, facilitate several outreach events to engage and excite prospective students in pursuing their higher education goals in agriculture at Cal Poly (CAFES Ag Council, 2018). In order to maintain growing student numbers, the Agricultural Education and Communication Department, specifically, the Agricultural Science major needs revamped recruiting efforts and …

Hosting The Third Annual Young Women In Agriculture Career And Leadership Seminar, Emma E. Morris, Madyline J. Braught

Agricultural Education and Communication

Agriculture has traditionally been a male-dominated industry; however, recent years have shown a significant growth in female presence. Women are beginning to take leadership roles both on the farm and within advocacy, lobbying, and business entities in the industry. According to the latest agricultural census data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 2012, women farmers controlled seven percent of the nation’s farmland (Census, 2014). Additionally, women held leadership roles in 14 percent of the nation’s two million farms (Census, 2014). This data is several years old, and likely the numbers have grown since the last census was …

Soil Science In Precision Agriculture Lesson Plan, Carson Ellis Cronkright

Agricultural Education and Communication

Due to the increasing demands for the American agricultural industry to provide exceptional products at an increasing rate of production, as well as implement the practice of sustainable farming, it is imperative that more modern concepts be taught at a younger age (Ray, 2013). In order to inform students of advancements and the future of agriculture in the United States, curriculum and lesson plans should reflect this movement in industry in order to provide relevant information and maintain the highest quality of education possible. This project will provide a constructed lesson plan as one example of adopting more progressive methods …

Ag Buddies: Making Connections With Agriculture Leaders And Elementary Youth, Lacee Holloway, Rachel Dewar, Mickey Guerra, Chantal Herrera

Agricultural Education and Communication

The author Bill McBean defines being a leader as, “exhibiting moral and ethical courage and setting an example for everyone.” Leadership begins at an early age and demonstrating the right way to lead and how to teach others should be instilled in a child when they are young enough to develop the right tools for success. Future Farmers of America and the agriculture programs that it is integrated into are prime examples of what being a leader inhibits. The National FFA Organization states that, “they taught us that agriculture is more than planting and harvesting — it's a science, it's …

Cal Poly Farmers Picnic, Emily Anne Dale, Riley Nilsen, Jack Gavron

Agricultural Education and Communication

Agriculture can be seen as the world’s most essential industry. Many products people use daily come directly from agriculture, including the food placed on people’s tables. Knowing where that food comes from, and the overall importance of agricultural education is vital in the United States and the world. This message needs to be shared beyond the classroom: we need agriculture to survive.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, “in 2012, there were 3.2 million farmers, ranchers and other agricultural managers and an estimated 757,900 agricultural workers legally employed in the U.S.” (USDA, 2012). These findings concluded that less …

Converting Agricultural Lesson Plans To Be Common Core Compliant For Grades 3-5, Hattie Kaymarie Jameson, Brittany Rose Withnell

Agricultural Education and Communication

There are few Common Core approved lesson plans for teachers to incorporate into traditional science programs in California. The Farm Bureau’s Ag in the Classroom (AITC) program provides K-12 educators lesson plans with an agricultural focus. Only 13 out of 45 of the lesson plans that the California AITC website offers are Common Core approved (Learn About Ag, 2017).

Agricultural literacy is valuable to consumers, can lead to careers in agriculture, and can create a greater understanding of the world and of science for students. The agricultural lessons give students a real life relationship with what they are learning and …

Agricultural Communications Lesson Plans For High School Agriculture Programs, Caitlin Anne Stanton

Agricultural Education and Communication

In today’s workforce, individuals are expected to be able to communicate effectively through all means of communication. This includes video, graphics, emails, social media, and in person. In the agriculture industry, these means of communication have become crucial to promoting agricultural literacy throughout the world. It is important for young people to have a grasp on professionally utilizing these communication methods so that they can use them in future careers as well as advocating for the agriculture industry. The role of technology and social media is rapidly increasing in everyday life and becoming a key learning tool in secondary education. …

Ag In Motion, Kerri Bermudez, Annelise Jensch, Michaela Stone

Agricultural Education and Communication

The purpose of this project was to gauge the interest levels of Ag in Motion for the Central Coast. Positive feedback would allow the project to continue on after this project is finished. Ag in Motion is an important asset to middle school aged children because they have the opportunity to learn about agriculture and it’s value. This is especially important considering California is number one producer of agricultural commodities in the United States.

The Central Coast is defined as these three counties: Monterey County, San Luis Obispo County, and Santa Barbara County. An online survey was developed and sent …

Humboldt County Agriculture Education: Forestry, Nursery, And Dairy Production, Alayna Renner

Agricultural Education and Communication

The purpose of this project was to create middle school agriculture curriculum for the top three agriculture commodities in Humboldt County. It was designed and created specifically for Humboldt County to educate the upcoming generations about the unique and diverse agriculture industry Humboldt County provides. It is hoped that this easy and ready to use curriculum will get the students interested and involved in the agriculture industry in the future years. It includes a teacher’s aide outline, student handouts, a Power Point, and an activity handout.

Evaluation Of The Brock Center For Agricultural Communication, Jennifer Ray

Agricultural Education and Communication

The author of this project currently serves as one of the Student Associates of the Brock Center for Agricultural Communication and the Editor-in-Chief of both Ag Circle and PolyCulture magazines. This past year, she served as the student representative on the Advisory Council for the Agricultural Education and Communication Department. Additionally the author has served as the Cal Poly Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT) Chapter President and currently serves as the National Second Vice President of the organization. The author’s experience with all of these aspects of the Cal Poly Agricultural Communication program has guided in producing this report. The …

An Educational Video And Research Experiment On The Longevity Of Chicken Eggs, Kyle Patrick Mcdonald

Agricultural Education and Communication

The purpose of this project was to create a video designed to educate the public about chicken egg storage and refrigeration. The information in the video was based on a research experiment performed by the author, which was designed to measure the chronological decline of internal egg quality over a ten-week period. By creating an educational video about the longevity of chicken eggs, it is hoped that consumers will learn to keep their eggs past their sell-by dates. This project includes an educational video as well as an outline for a research project.

The Agriculture Industry In California And The Need For Agriculture Education, Stephanie Amador, Sarah Marques

Agricultural Education and Communication

The purpose of this project was to develop a promotional film about agricultural literacy. It was created to promote agriculture education to elementary and middle schools. In order to capture a wide array of opinions the project includes interviews of teachers, school administrators and parents to diversify the support of incorporating agriculture into the classroom. Working with fourth grade students allowed the project to showcase students enjoying agriculture based lessons that incorporated multiple learning styles. The video that was created can be used to highlight student engagement in topics about agriculture. It also shows a variety of support which can …

Savvy About Succulents, Mardel Runnels, Jessica Paulisich

Agricultural Education and Communication

The purpose of this project was to create an educational booklet explaining that succulents make fantastic SAE projects. The booklet was designed to be helpful to both high school students and high school instructors. All students enrolled in agriculture programs have projects known as SAE’s. This booklet includes a variety of topics that are relevant to having an SAE project. All information was based on industry statistics and information gained from courses. The booklet can be distributed both electronically and in a print version. The major consideration in the design of this project was to develop a booklet that would …

How To Read And Understand Nutrition Facts Labels, Marissa S. Leal

Agricultural Education and Communication

More than half of the world’s population is overweight. The numbers have tripled in Europe, Middle East, China, and Pacific Islands. Adult Americans are about two-thirds overweight. The numbers will continue to grow if the population does not take the proper action. America has an overweight problem and the purpose of this paper is to educate the population about nutrition facts labels, and help the world make better food choices.

The author studied a brochure created by the FDA on how to read nutrition facts labels and then create their own based on the previous brochure. The author added other …

Creating A Rabbitry For A High School Agricultural Program: A Guide For The Approval Process And Materials Required, Anne Marie Katuin

Agricultural Education and Communication

The proposal for a rabbitry to be added to the campus of Liberty High School in Golden Valley Unified School District in the designated agricultural area was proposed to the agricultural teacher and site administration for the high school. A floor plan was designed to fit the needs of a small rabbit breeding operation for the use of the LHS FFA students who wished to have a breeding or meat rabbit SAE.

Guidelines and plans were created in order to help an agricultural teacher or community member go through the previously mentioned approval process if they were to want to …

Student Sample Perceptions Of Organic Food Products And Buying Habits, Alycia M. Deus

Agricultural Education and Communication

The purposes of this senior project were to identify college students’ perceptions and knowledge of organic food. This study also focuses on the respondents’ purchasing and budgeting of organic food. This information is essential to inform farmers and ranchers because it serves as an indicator of future market’s demands.

A thirteen item questionnaire was distributed to sixty-five students attending California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, enrolled in either Agricultural Education and Communication courses or Agricultural Business courses. Both upper and lower division classes were surveyed. The questionnaires were distributed and collected from June 2, 2009 to June 4, 2009. …