IOWA AGRICULTURE LITERACY FOUNDATION

Our organization through the Agriculture in the Classroom hopes to increase agricultural literacy through K-12 education. An agriculturally literate person is defined as "one who understands and can communicate the source and value of agriculture as it affects quality of life." Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) programs seek to improve student achievement by applying authentic, agricultural-based content as the context to teach core curriculum concepts in science, social studies, language arts and nutrition. By encouraging teachers to embed agriculture into their classroom, AITC cultivates an understanding and appreciation of the food and fiber system that we all rely on every day. AITC is unique within the agricultural education community as the lead organization to serve the full spectrum of K-12 formal education. A better informed student population will be more engaged in applied learning and may seek employment opportunities later in life. They will make more informed decision makers at the voting polls. They will make more informed decisions at the cash register. One in five jobs in Iowa is in agriculture and these programs help develop the continuum of students that will seek advanced education and potentially careers in agriculture.

We work directly with students through formal and informal learning venues using agriculture to create context for science, social studies, languages arts, and technology learning. Through STEM festivals and other public events we introduce students to agriculture through fun, engaging, and hands-on learning activities. We also work directly with teachers. Many teachers don't have a background in science or agriculture and so don't feel comfortable teaching those subjects or integrating them with other subjects. Through a series of professional development workshops we give teachers the background knowledge and experience they need to feel comfortable with the subject matter material. This includes onsite tours of farms and agribusinesses, demonstrations of lessons and activities, and connecting to guest speakers and subject matter experts. We develop lesson plans and resources that teachers can immediately use in their classroom. These include student readers like our Iowa Ag Today series targeted to 4th grade and 7th grade readers or our My Family's Farm book series targeted to 3rd grade readers. Our final target audience is the public with presentations at the Iowa State Fair and other public venues. We have hosted movie screenings, cooking demonstrations, trivia events, and more in an effort to keep the public connected with where their food comes from.

The Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation has pulled together the right expertise and experience to address
these challenges. Our staff includes a former agriculture teacher and fundraiser and an educator with more than
10 years of experience implementing Ag in the Classroom. Our board is made up of representatives of the major
commodity and agriculture policy groups including: Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Iowa Pork Producers
Association, Iowa Soybean Association, Silos and Smokestacks Foundation, Iowa Corn Growers Association,
and Iowa Beef Council. Other members of the board include DuPont Pioneer, GROWMARK, Iowa State
University Extension and Outreach, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and Iowa
Department of Education.
The board is organized with two sub-committees: an agriculture industry advisory council and an agriculture
education advisory council. Additional members of the councils include Des Moines Area Community College,
Drake University, CHS Foundation, Farm Credit Service of America, the Iowa Energy Center, Ag Ventures
Alliance, the Monsanto Fund, Farm Bureau Financial Services, and Theisen's.

Through the development of lesson plans, organization of teacher professional development, and a variety of other activities, the IALF staff of five has increased students reached per year from roughly 16,000 to more than 175,800. This equates to roughly 41% of students in grades K-6 receiving agricultural literacy programming. Teacher engagement too has increased with more than 3100 teachers receiving training to expand their classroom activities and teach science, social studies, and language arts with agriculture. We have added more than 120 lesson plans to our website. Programs like FarmChat®, student readers like Iowa Ag Today, and books like the My Family's Farm series have all played a key role in expanding the reach of agriculture literacy in Iowa. We have printed a series of six Iowa Ag Today publications and four in the My Family's Farm book series including beef, corn, soybean, and wind. The organization has earned the Seal of Approval recognition from the Governor's STEM Advisory Council. The organization has also earned accreditation from the Better Business Bureau as an accredited charity. The IALF blog has been recognized twice as one of the top 50 blogs about agriculture from Feedspot.com and Lawnstarter.com. The blog receives more than 51,000 visitors annually.