COLUMBUS, Ohio – Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC), a program that supports integrating knowledge of agriculture, food, fiber, and natural resource systems across all content areas in K-12 schools, can be found in all 50 states and the U.S. territories. AITC offers teacher and student resources without mandating a core curriculum. Each state aligns programming with its educational standards and utilizes resources to support the educational needs of its students.

Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio share a rich agricultural heritage and are committed to ag literacy programming across grade levels and school settings.

The administrative structure of AITC varies from state to state. “There’s no set format for how a state affiliate has to be set up,” said Mary Klopfenstein, young ag professional & ag literacy program specialist with Ohio Farm Bureau. “A good portion of the states run their Ag in the Classroom programming through their state Farm Bureau, but by no means does it have to.”

Some states operate AITC through their agriculture or education departments. In a few states, it is affiliated with a land-grant university or is a stand-alone entity. “So it does look different from state to state,” Klopfenstein said. “But the most common format is in conjunction with the state Farm Bureau.”

Even when it operates as a non-profit as is the case in Kentucky, there is close collaboration with agricultural entities in the state. “We work with the Kentucky Farm Bureau each year to provide regional teacher workshops to K-12 teachers, and we have partnered with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture for our Ag Literacy Network workshops,” Jennifer Elwell, executive director for Kentucky Agriculture & Environment in the Classroom (KAEC), said.

AITC has been a part of Tennessee schools for 34 years, according to Chris Flemming, associate director of Ag in the Classroom at Tennessee Farm Bureau. The program may be found in classrooms throughout the state. “School gardens have been initiated in around 1,000 schools if you count private and public – we’re in about half of the schools. We’ve got a pretty good footprint in Tennessee.”

Most Tennessee classrooms with ag programs are found in elementary schools. “The largest contingent is in grades K-2 then it goes down in grades 3-5. Grades 6-9 are the least affected,” Fleming said.

Tennessee Farm Bureau does not create curricular materials for teachers, focusing on supporting the curriculum with supplemental materials. “We do work with the Tennessee Department of Education on making sure our materials meet the particular standards they’re looking for,” Fleming said.

“In Tennessee, we do a lot of R& D — not the research and development but ‘Rip-off and Duplicate,’” Fleming said. “If Kentucky has a program that’s working, and we think it might work in Tennessee, they share the plans, the ideas, or the research that went into that so we don’t have to recreate the wheel.”

Elwell has dedicated much of her 10 years as director to developing Kentucky-focused agriculture lessons and resources to celebrate the state’s unique agriculture community. The organization provides resources, lessons, educator training, and communications for K-12 schools.

Since COVID, they have been providing more virtual workshops and demo videos. “The keystone program is the Kentucky Farms Feed Me Virtual Field Trip Program,” Elwell said. “In addition to the virtual field trips to Kentucky farms, many available companion activities teach concepts in science, math, social studies, career studies, and writing/reading.”

Kentucky also created the Agriculture Literacy Network to assist volunteer, farmer, and agribusiness educators who visit classrooms or provide on-farm education experiences. “That network includes many of our Cooperative Extension Service and Conservation District employees,” Elwell said. “There are more than 300 members. With a very small staff, we rely heavily on local folks for outreach programs.”

Other ag literacy programming in Kentucky includes Sponsor a Classroom and the Kentucky Farm to School Network.

With Sponsor a Classroom, a local entity can provide a kit of agriculture resources that are grade-level appropriate and align with the Kentucky Academic Standards. More than 450 kits have been distributed since 2017.

The Kentucky Farm to School Network involves many agriculture, food, and education entities. “They encourage local food procurement by the school nutrition directors, school gardens, and ag education. It has been a very successful program,” Elwell said.

Middle school agriculture programs have become more popular in Kentucky, and many teachers use the resources provided by KAEC. Elementary schools are getting involved by providing regular agriculture content through their STEM lab special areas or weekly programs.

In Ohio, most ag literacy outreach is provided by county farm bureau volunteers. Each county decides what that looks like for their community. “Some focus on younger elementary ages, some prefer to focus more on middle school and high school, some of them find themselves primarily at community events where they hit K-12 and the general public all in one,” Klopfenstein said. “It varies county to county based on what the county farm bureau volunteers feel makes the most sense for their area.”

The Ohio Farm Bureau is preparing volunteers through ag literacy certification training. The training brings together farm bureau members from across the state who are interested in ag literacy. The training explains the available resources, and how the curriculum can be tailored to content standards and various activities.

As important as resource availability is how the volunteers work with school children. In that capacity, the PAST Foundation out of Columbus, a nonprofit that trains teachers on problem-based learning, helps volunteers through how to most effectively engage with youth audiences. “We realize our county farm bureau volunteers know agriculture, but some don’t necessarily have the experience or the background engaging with a young audience,” Klopfenstein said. “The training also just gives our county volunteers a chance to get together and collaborate – because what works in one county to some extent, there’s a good chance something similar could work somewhere else across the state. Our volunteers tend to find a lot of value and just idea sharing at that training.”

A mix of private and public money is used to fund AITC across all three states.

The Tennessee Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom funds the program in the Volunteer State, which is administered through the state farm bureau. “We have over 100 major donors each year that donate $500 or more and we receive a grant from the Department of Agriculture,” Fleming said.

In Kentucky, funding is typically 60 percent from the state and county agricultural organizations and 40 percent from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund, Master Settlement Funds from the Tobacco buyout. The sales of resources and memberships provide additional funds.

Ohio Farm Bureau relaunched its state efforts on ag literacy in 2023 following the establishment of the Patterson Family Ag Literacy Fund. “At the state level, that’s where the majority of our funding comes from to support ag literacy efforts,” Klopfenstein said. “Also, each county farm bureau has funds set aside for ag literacy within their budget.”