By Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist

This fall, kindergarten through fifth grade students across Texas can once again virtually visit farms and ranches right from their classrooms through Texas Farm Bureau’s (TFB) Farm From School program.

“Farm From School gives students the opportunity to see the diversity of Texas agriculture through a live, virtual visit where they ‘meet’ with a farmer or rancher,” said Jordan Bartels, TFB associate director of Organization Division, Educational Outreach. “Most students might not realize that Texas farmers and ranchers grow so many crops and raise a variety of animals.”

Each visit will showcase a different commodity and Texas farmer to give the students a look at Texas agriculture.

The program helps students, who are often several generations removed from the farm, understand where their food, fiber, fuel and other items come from.

“Agriculture plays a vital role in everything everyone does. The students who engage with this program are the next generation of consumers and leaders who will make important decisions in their communities,” she said. “Our goal is to connect students to agriculture in a way that helps them realize that agriculture is in every aspect of their lives, including the topics and concepts they learn each day.”

The fall semester is the eighth semester of the program.

Farm From School is popular within public, private and homeschool classrooms. In fact, more than 2,300 teachers and over 44,000 students connected with farmers and ranchers throughout the spring semester.

Classrooms connect virtually with the farmers and ranchers once a month from September through December. Students can ask questions throughout each session, by submitting via the Q&A function on the virtual platform.

The program is open to public, private and homeschool educators who teach kindergarten through fifth grade.

“The Farm From School program is free to educators and includes the virtual visit and free materials to easily incorporate the topic into their classroom content,” Bartels said. “Teachers who have participated with their students in previous semesters continually share that the program offered their students a unique opportunity to learn, make connections and think outside the box.”

TFB will also provide TEKS-aligned lessons, activity books and other companion resource materials for the virtual farm visits.

Interested teachers can sign up on TFB’s Agriculture in the Classroom webpage at texasfarmbureau.org/aitc.

Sign up closes Aug. 14 for the fall semester.

Additional details about the program, including dates and commodities featured, will be added on the Agriculture in the Classroom webpage as they become available.

For questions, contact the Educational Outreach team at edoutreach@txfb.org or call 254-751-2569.

More information about Ag in the Classroom resources is available at texasfarmbureau.org/aitc.