BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — A curricula development company in Michigan has pulled a textbook from its science kits after the Michigan Farm Bureau (MFB) complained the text is anti-agriculture.

The 88-page book, A Hot Planet Needs Cool Kids, was written for children in the seventh grade. It’s a self-published work by Julie Hall, and was included as a supplementary text in science kits developed by the Battle Creek Area Math and Science Center.

The kits are designed to meet educational goals developed at the state level. School districts pay for the kits and rely on the Center’s expertise at developing required curricula.

Deb Schmucker, manager of promotion and education at the MFB, was happy to hear recently that the text had been withdrawn. “It’s a great sign for us, because the wrong information is no longer out there,” she said. “To me, having the correct information is important.”

The controversy arose several weeks ago when a Michigan farmer complained about the text to the MFB; A Hot Planet Needs Cool Kids is critical of modern agricultural practices. The book states climate change is definitely caused by human activity and that “it is the most compelling issue of our time.”

The author suggests specific weather events were caused by climate change; for example, a rare tornado that touched down in Brooklyn not long ago.

On page 35, Hall has headings sure to rile farmers, called “Industrial Farms” and “Too Much Meat.” She makes assertions that are either one-sided or, in some cases, considered downright false. For example, she is criticized for romanticizing small subsistence farms of previous generations, saying they existed “in relative balance with nature,” and adds industrial farms of today are not in balance with nature.

“These farms use chemical pesticides to kill crop-eating insects and fertilizers to make their crops grow fast and big,” she writes. “Such agricultural chemicals pollute the air and water and harm the soil, leading to erosion. Industrial farms use big machines to plant, maintain and harvest their crops. These machines produce large amounts of carbon dioxide.”

In a comment that’s highlighted in the margins of page 35, she writes agricultural “chemicals cause birth defects, cancer, immune diseases and death in local wildlife and human communities.” She then criticizes large animal feedlots and says livestock produce a lot of methane, which is a greenhouse gas.

On the next page she writes people are destroying tropical rainforests to raise cattle to provide hamburger to fast food restaurants. “You and your friends and family can help by not eating fast food,” she says. “It’s healthier for the planet and you!”

Schmucker said she has a problem with the book and “battles this misinformation every day. We don’t need more of this.” Before the book was pulled from the science kits the Center had agreed to include educational materials the MFB developed, to inject what it felt was some balance into the lessons on agriculture.

“Often, they are very open to using our materials,” Schmucker said. “We do the happy things and provide opportunities for people to learn about agriculture. Sometimes we have to do this kind of thing, too.”