myth busting & fact finding for grades 6-12 julie taylor, education coordinator

Myth Busting & Fact Finding For grades 6-12

Julie Taylor, education coordinator

WHAT ARE KEY WORDS OFTEN HEARD IN THE MEDIA ABOUT AGRICULTURE?

Agriculture : On Trend, Hot Topic

Informative Presentation Topic Ideas

• How genetic seed improvement works.• Trends in agricultural productivity growth• Renewable energy sources.

• (think about conveying info on biodiesel, ethanol fuels, and other earth friendly sources of biomass energy.

WHAT ARE KEY WORDS OFTEN HEARD IN THE MEDIA ABOUT EDUCATION?

Education: a minefield of change

ADDRESSING MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT AGRICULTURE

Fact or Fiction, Fad or Forever

Available at www.fb.org for $7.50 + SH

Implementing Strategies

• Power Point – Already created with presenter notes– You can edit to meet audience and timeframe

• Instructor’s Guide – Lesson Plan with 3 activities– Activity cards and worksheet

WHEN? AND WHERE?

• Presentations to civic organizations – Lions, Kiwanis, Rotary, Home Ec clubs

• Teacher In-service or teacher workshop• Grades 7 through 12

– Foods and Nutrition– Fundamentals of Ag– Middle School or Junior High FACS (Home Ec)– Science classes– 4-H Junior Leaders & FFA chapters

Those who do not understand how their food is produced and the challenges associated with that

production can easily be misled.

Fact or Fiction

• Clear up misconceptions before attempting to teach or learn new information. – Misconception: People once believed that the

earth was the center of the solar system.– Impact: how do you understand what causes day

and night?– Misconception: People once believed that the

earth was the center of the solar system.– Impact: How do you explain seasons or changing

day length.

Just because the majority of people believe something is true, does not make it so.

Addressing Misconceptions About Agriculture

For the first time in human history, the majority of people will have no contact with the source of their food….

…other than buying or eating it.

By 2050, the majority of the world’s population will be disconnected from the earth.

• In 1950, more than 75 percent of world’s population was rural.

• By 2050, almost 75 percent of world’s population will be urban.

The average U.S. citizen is three or more generations removed from the farm.

Food is taken for granted.• Issue has no personal relevance.• Sentimentality persists, but far less than in

past.• More questioning of farmers’ competency.

The ignorant are very easily misled. • We believe that we understand subjects

that we do not.• We fear the wrong things.• We don’t fear the right things.

The U.S. public has many misconceptions about agriculture.

• Many we are taught!• Others come from superficial reporting by

media or through advertising.• Once something is in print, it is repeated,

endlessly, as factual.

6. Organic food production does not use ? or synthetic fertilizers.

• Organic production can use “natural” pesticides.– Mineral salts– Pesticides from plant materials

• The greatest quantity of chemical pesticides are being applied to organic crops as approved “natural pesticides.”

7. Organic farming has less impact on the

environment than traditional farming.

• Many natural pesticides are persistent in the environment.

• Many need to be applied several times or at higher rates to protect the targeted crops.

10. To protect children from cancer, useorganic peanut butter to make their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

• Facts about peanuts:– Peanuts grow in the ground. – Soil naturally contains many fungi.– Some of those fungi produce aflatoxins.– Aflatoxins are known and very potent carcinogens.

• Growers use fungicides on peanuts produced traditionally.

• Fewer fungi mean that less aflatoxin is found in commercial peanut butter.

• Organic peanut butter is often contaminated with aflatoxins.

• So, traditional peanut butter has less potential for aflatoxin contamination.

11. Homeowners use the greatest concentration of chemical pesticides per acre.

The EPA found that homeowners applied chemical pesticides at a rate eight times per acre higher than did farmers.

15. Brown eggs are more nutritious than ? .

There is no nutritional difference between white and brown eggs.

Different breeds produce brown, white or blue eggs.

19. Globally, hunger is caused by a shortage of food.

The world produces enough food to feed everyone.

Even Africa produces enough food to feed its people.

Hunger is caused by poverty • in this country and elsewhere.

Hunger may also be intentional.• It may be induced for political or social reasons.

Poverty results in the inability to:• purchase food;• safely store food; or• transport food in areas where drought

occurs.

35. A person’s genes can be changed by eating a genetically modified fruit or vegetable.

If you eat corn, do you become corn?

Do your children become corn?

No, your body digests the proteins and absorbs the amino acids to use them to build proteins.

• Population:– By 2050, population will

climb from current 6 billion to about 11 billion people

– We will need to feed twice today’s population.

We will need to produce as much food in the next 40 years as has been produced in all of human history!

To accomplish this, we need:• a public that understands the food and fiber

system.• to make decisions using research–based

information, not rumor, innuendo nor the rhetoric of the self-serving.

• Why?– To ensure abundance.– Civilization is dependent on the ability to provide

food, clothing and shelter in abundance.

Developed By Betty Wolanyk

Director, Education and Research

Produced and Distributed ByAmerican Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture

600 Maryland Avenue, SW, Suite 1000WWashington, DC 20024

www.ageducate.org

Corn harvesting activity:

1. Number of kernels harvested (the amount in the bag from the beginning) ___________ 2. Number of kernels paid in expenses:

a. Fertilizer & Herbicide: ___________ b. Seed Cost: ___________ c. Equipment: ___________ d. Land: Rented/ Owned: ___________ e. Other expenses: ___________

3. Number of kernels left (profit or loss): ___________ 4. Multiplied by $0.10 each, equals profit per bushel: ___________ 5. Multiplied by 200 bu. per acre: (earnings per acre) ___________ 6. Multiplied by 60 acres (earnings for the field) ___________

Farmer for the Day

Food and Farm FactsWWW.FB.ORG/ORDERS

$4.25 + S&H

$6.50 each + S&H

myth busting & fact finding for grades 6-12 julie taylor, education coordinator

worksheet slide

wiley slide

education coordinator

hot topic slide

agriculture fact

minefield of change

majority of people

percent of worlds population

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