New grant program provides agriscience educators with training and funds

DuPont and the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE) has awarded $200,000 in grants to provide agriscience educators with training and classroom resources to implement advanced curriculum that will better prepare students for future careers in agriculture and food.

DuPont Pioneer is working closely with the National Association of Agricultural Educators to award grants to teachers who are implementing Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (CASE), but need additional funding.

“Feeding the world will require that more students understand agriculture and become future leaders in food and agriscience,” said Michelle Gowdy, director of Community & Academic Relations for DuPont Pioneer. “We are working with others in education and in agriculture to ensure teachers have the best tools at their disposal to get more kids excited about agriculture and careers in agriscience.”

CASE is a multi-year approach to agriscience education with rigorous educator training requirements and hands-on, inquiry focused learning activities. The collaboration with DuPont Pioneer and CASE is a special project of the National FFA Foundation.

Ag Students in Rowan County, N.C. build a better tomato

Students in Rowan County, North Carolina are conducting important agricultural research in their school’s greenhouse with the help of North Carolina State University professor Jeremy Pattison.

Get the full story from local news station WBTV in Charlotte:

http://www.wbtv.com/story/21289940/growing-a-better-tomato-right-inside-a-high-school-classroom

Agriculture degrees the hot ticket for job growth?

With the world’s population set to exceed 9 billion by 2050, global food production will need to increase by 70 percent. According to this news segment from Fox News, this means that jobs opportunities in agriculture will continue to grow.

(Note: Adrienne Bradley, who appears in this clip, was a National Collegiate Agriculture Ambassador in 2012!)

A related article in The Atlantic Monthly lists “Veterinarians” and “Animal Breeders” among their 13 jobs with the lowest unemployment rates in 2011 and 2012.

As always, it’s a great time to be an ag student!

Bringing back native pollinators

Traditional honeybee hives are facing threats from a condition called “Colony Collapse Disorder.” While its causes are still unclear, the disorder has killed millions of bees and adversely affected pollination of many fruit and vegetable crops.

Find out what habitat conservationists in Orange County, California are doing to help bring native bees back in this episode of America’s Heartland:

Watch 816 on PBS. See more from America’s Heartland.

Ask Secretary Vilsack

Got a question for USDA leader Tom Vilsack about emerging trends in agriculture?

For his final Virtual Office Hours session of 2012, Vilsack will host a live Twitter chat on the important role of rural America to the national and global economy, increasing agricultural opportunities in U.S. communities, and the importance of passing a five-year Farm Bill.

Tweet your questions with the hashtag #AskUSDA and he may answer during a live chat this afternoon!

You may have questions like:

• What are the emerging sectors in agriculture for new farmers and ranchers; where do I find them?
• In both rural and urban communities, what is the significance of the agricultural sector?
• I didn’t grow up on a farm. Are there other opportunities in agriculture besides farming that I should know about?

The chat will take place at 3:30 p.m. EDT today. (December 17, 2012)

New York FFA urges you to help fight hunger

In this eye-opening video, New York FFA officers, explain how people can become food insecure in the aftermath of disasters like Hurricane Sandy, challenge commonly-held beliefs about hunger, and tell you how you can help.

FFA members give assist to Mississippi River visitor center

Everyday, we’re more and more impressed with FFA members. They’re a group of individuals routinely doing positive things for their future, and most of the time helping their local and global communities in the process. The latest example — a completely true fish story, nonetheless — flows to us (pun intended) straight from the Benton FFA Chapter in Benton, Pennsylvania.

We’ll let the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers take it from here.

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Fish now adorn the walls of the Mississippi River Visitor Center located on Rock Island Arsenal in Rock Island, Ill., near Locks and Dam 15.

The fish were built by members of the Benton FFA Chapter in Benton, Penn., as part of a partnership with the Visitor Center.

The partnership was formed as a way for students to use the skills they were learning in the classroom and apply them to a real-life project. Part of the FFA program is agricultural education where students take classes to help prepare them for successful careers in areas such as global agriculture, food, fiber and natural resources.

The students researched the 15 most common fish species in the Mississippi River for the project. They learned about their anatomy, feeding habits and habitat. They then started making plans for the display and building the fish.

Those model fish (built by model FFA members, no less) now cover the walls of the Mississippi River Visitor Center and stand as a solid project that intertwined learning about river aquaculture life plus tangible skills in a shop class. The Benton FFA chapter advisor made sure the project was more than just labor.

Justin Allgaier, BRANDT take FFA to NASCAR victory lane

The FFA emblem looks pretty good amid celebratory tire smoke, no?

We certainly think so. This photo comes from Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race in Montreal, where Justin Allgaier drove that beautiful orange (red? orange-red? neon awesome?) No. 31 to victory lane after passing a former Indianapolis 500 winner on the last lap. It was kind of a big deal.

New Century Farmer – Day Four

This week, students attending the New Century Farmer conference will be blogging about the lessons they’re learning and the friends they’re making there. The conference is taking place on the Pioneer campus in Des Moines, Iowa.  Topics covered include the global agricultural marketplace, farm financing, demographic trends and risk management. 

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Today was a very informative and exciting day for those of us that have the privilege of being at the New Century Farmer Conference in Des Moines, Iowa. We started the day off with an excellent presentation by Farm Credit Services representative Gary Matteson, followed up by a very intense round of discussion.

The information Gary Matteson provided us with was excellent. It related perfectly to the situations most of the attendants are dealing with. Basically, he explained to us the different opportunities there are for young and beginning farmers to borrow money for farm investments and expenses. One thing that was really amazing was the amount of young people in the room who have already successfully borrowed substantial amounts of money for their operations.

New Century Farmer – Day Three

This week, students attending the New Century Farmer conference will be blogging about the lessons they’re learning and the friends they’re making there. The conference is taking place on the Pioneer campus in Des Moines, Iowa.  Topics covered include the global agricultural marketplace, farm financing, demographic trends and risk management. 

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To start off the third day of the New Century Farmer conference, we heard from Matt Erickson who spoke with us about the importance of the Farm Bill, Budgeting, and Risk Management. As the next generation’s producers of the world’s food, fuel, fiber, and natural resources we need to educate ourselves about the policies and financial status of our government and how it directly affects us and our farming operations.  Further, we explored the significance of becoming involved with sharing our story with legislators and taking charge of our own financial decisions.