Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: The impacts of agriculture

20 minutes

Find Out: Case study analysis

25 minutes

Take Action: The most important job in the world?

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune In: The impacts of agriculture

Step 1

Invite students to share what they understand the term ‘agriculture’ to mean and record ideas on the board.

Clarify with students that agriculture is defined as “the science, art, or practice of cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock and in varying degrees the preparation and marketing of the resulting products.” (Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/agriculture)

Note:

You might want to take a moment to explain the distinction between farming and agriculture to students. Farming is a part of agriculture that is mainly concerned with the growing and raising of plants and animals. Agriculture includes farming but is also about the science and research behind farming practices as well as the processing and sale of agricultural products. Agriculture is a much broader term than farming.
You may also want to point students to the term ‘art’ in this definition and explain that art means the application of human creative skills and imagination, and a lot of agriculture requires thinking creatively and imagining new ways of doing things to achieve goals. This creative thinking and imagination are based on a scientific understanding of food and fibre production, but you can apply these scientific ideas creatively. This is essential because agriculture must constantly shift and change according to local conditions in soil or weather, changes in climate, or the different types or quantities of food consumers want to eat.

Step 2

Explain to students that there are over 8 billion people on our planet, and agriculture is the main source of food for all these people. Through conventional agriculture (the main type of agriculture that is used), vast areas of land have been cleared of other vegetation to make way for all different kinds of farms, such as dairy farms, rice farms, sheep farms, chook farms, wheat farms, corn farms, fruit and nut farms, vegetable farms, mushroom farms, goat farms, etc.

In many cases, the places where these farms now there used to be native vegetation that was home to native plants and animals. In addition, many farms now exist alongside areas of native vegetation, and the relationship between farms and native habitats, landscapes and species is not always positive. In this lesson, we will focus on the ways that agriculture can impact the natural environment.

On the Key Terms and Definitions sheet is a series of key terms and definitions.

Invite students to try to match the following terms with their definitions. You could do this as a class, divide the class into groups to work on together, or give each student a term or definition and ask them to find their pair.

Step 3

Once complete, explain to students that while there seem to be many problems associated with farming and its impact on our environment, many farmers are aware of these problems and are working to reduce the environmental impacts of their farms while producing the food we need.

Students will explore some of these farmers in the next part of the lesson.

Find Out: Case study analysis

Step 1

Students will now investigate a case study about a farmer who has integrated practices on their farm to reduce the environmental impact of their farm.

Break the class into pairs and assign each pair with one of the following case studies, ensuring that each case study has roughly the same number of pairs assigned to it:

Vietnam - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wKNC04qpJo
Organic farming - https://soilsforlife.org.au/border-park-organics/
Protecting habitats - https://soilsforlife.org.au/garry-kadwell-fairhalt/
Erosion - https://soilsforlife.org.au/yabtree-west/
Extension - Colombia and climate change - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXI9cUnj1gU

Give each student a copy of the Student Worksheet.

Each pair needs to examine their case study and respond to the following points (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Where is this case study?
What products are they farming?
What is at least one action they are undertaking to reduce the environmental impact of their farm? Why are they doing this action (i.e. what is the environmental impact they are addressing?)
Is anything else interesting or important?

Step 2

Each pair of students should form a new group with a number of other pairs who have looked at a different case study (this will depend on how many pairs of students you have).

In their groups, students need to share their answers to the questions above as they relate to the case studies they focused on. Students should also be encouraged to ask questions of each other about their case studies.

Using the space provided on the Student Worksheet, each student needs to record as much information as they can about the environmental impacts that farmers are trying to address and the actions they are taking.

Take Action: The most important job in the world?

Step 1

In their analysis of the case studies, students will have seen interviews with people working in agriculture - including farmers - from around Australia and the world.

Invite students to take a moment to imagine the work that one of these farmers is trying to do:

grow crops or animals to feed 8 billion hungry people, and there will be more and more of those people in the future (no pressure!)
care for the environment so that nature is healthy now and in the future
make enough money to support themselves and their families.

There is no doubt that this is a big task.

Step 2

Explain to students that they will now create an image that communicates the big job that the farmers of the future are facing. The image they create can be done by:

hand, using pencils or pens
editing or annotating an existing photo or image
using an AI image generator (e.g. DALL-E on Canva).

The image should include annotations (e.g. labels or speech bubbles) that address the three primary responsibilities facing a farmer:

feeding the people of the planet
caring for the environment now and in the future
supporting their own families.

Remind students that agriculture is both an art and a science and that they can think creatively about what their farmer might do to produce food and care for the environment.

Step 3

Gallery walk - A gallery walk enables students to provide feedback on their peers’ work. Display students’ work around the classroom and place a piece of blank paper next to each work to collect votes on. Invite students to move around the room, viewing each others’ work, then vote for their three favourite works.

You could also ask students to record one thing they like about the posters displayed, one they wonder about, and one that may improve the work.

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to respond to the following (also available on the Student Worksheet):

I used to think…
But now I think…

The Environmental Impacts of Agriculture

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Summary

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