Getting Started

Over the past month, several of us have met getting our curriculum written and our team members confirmed.  

Organizations such as Team Nutrition and others have sent teaching materials and products for us to use, and we're putting together curricula for a few different school programs.  Dr. Dennis Lamm has also provided excellent resources for research.  Mrs. Ginny Casida is creating children's packets, dubbed Self-Discovery Packets, to give the children material to take home.  

We have discussed an after-school activity day with the Sangre De Cristo Art Center Young at Art Program (http://www.sdc-arts.org/ya.html).  We will also be working with Heaton Middle School (http://heaton.pueblocityschools.us/) and Pueblo School for Arts and Sciences (http://www.psas.ws/).  The teachers of each of the school programs have been eager to participate and support, and we are so pleased to get the program started at their schools.  

We are so excited for the opportunity to share sustainable agriculture and nutrition education with the school children.  We have strong support from several important participants:

Dr. Dennis Lamm, Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Chief Investigator of the Grant

Ms. Tisha Casida, That's Natural Marketing Owner and Publisher 

Ms. Tammy Alhadef, author, pastry chef - and really good cook, farmer, and educator; Blogger for A Wren's Nest

Mr. Paul Alhadef, photographer and owner of Paul Alhadef Photography, farmer

Mr. Doug and Mrs. Kim Wiley, Larga Vista Ranch dairy farmers and producers

Mr. Mike Bartolo, farmer

Mr. Dan Hobbs, farmer and representative of Arkansas Valley Organic Growers

Mrs. Ginny Casida, children's books author and artist

Ms. Kimberly Schaub, nutrition consultant

Other community members who have offered support include:

Ms. Jo Schrubbe, certified nutritionist

Mr. Clifton Casida, filmographer 

We are planning several methods for teaching school children about sustainable agriculture, including presentations, hands-on activities, plays, skits, art projects, and workbook assignments.  Involving the children by making the learning process fun and easy will help the children understand and remember the topics.  

Continue checking back for updates!

Western SARE Goals

1. Promote good stewardship of the nation’s natural resources by providing site-specific, regional and profitable sustainable farming and ranching methods that strengthen agricultural competitiveness; satisfy human food and fiber needs; maintain and enhance the quality and productivity of soil; conserve soil, water, energy, natural resources and fish and wildlife habitat; and maintain and improve the quality of surface and ground water.

Our goal to educate the youth in South-Eastern Colorado would allow students to start understanding and seeing the implications of sustainable agriculture in our communities. By having a curriculum that educates through not only by reading material, but also by allowing the students to physically go to the farm and become an active part of the production process, we will be opening their minds to how this affects them and gain their interest so that as they grow and continue their education, they can become a more active part of agriculture within the community. Involved education is the best way to enhance student learning and will more effectively illustrate how interdependent our society is upon agriculture.

2. Enhance the quality of life of farmers and ranchers and ensure the viability of rural communities, for example, by increasing income and employment, especially profitable self-employment and innovative marketing opportunities in agriculture and rural communities.

To ensure the viability of rural communities, it is absolutely necessary to have the up-coming generation interested in supporting their community. The best way to gain interest and support from our youth is to have programs available that allow them to be involved physically and emotionally in the process. Participating farmers and ranchers will benefit financially from having increased traffic to their locations, and the youth participating in the programs will develop relationships with their local producers. When the consumer knows his producer, loyalty purchases due to relationship and understanding of the process will continue a cycle that is essential to the survival of the small farm and ranch owner. In addition, when the quality of life of the producer is raised, the tendency for expenditure within a community improves, because additional income is available for purchasing. Community support for the producer increases, and the risk of losing valuable farm and ranch land to urban development decreases.

3. Protect the health and safety of those involved in food and farm systems by reducing, where feasible and practical, the use of toxic materials in agriculture production, and by optimizing on-farm resources and integrating, where appropriate, biological cycles and controls.

Educating our youth and students about the potential implications of toxic materials in agriculture, and the inherent benefits of sustainable farming systems will be crucial for the continued support of these sustainable methods and the continued reduction of toxic materials. Farmers and consumers together help make these choices, however the only way to be able to make a choice is to be able to become educating on the topics. Using these topics in our curriculum for the schools will be the initial step of educating future consumers about choices in agriculture and the benefits of sustainable farm systems to the environment, consumer, and community. When the students are educated, they will be shown the potential benefits and risks to decisions relating to their agricultural community and will be able to voice an informed opinion in concert with the farmers and ranchers. Community support for new projects, innovative ways of farming, and use or disuse of previous farming behavior can only come about through balanced education. This education must start at a young age to promote a true sense of understanding of factors that affect communities and their surrounding farms for the time that these young voters shape the direction of their hometowns.

4. Promote crop, livestock and enterprise diversification.

Sustainable agriculture encompasses many variables that make it what one deems “sustainable”. One of the greatest components is the diversification of the crops, livestock, and overall operations of the enterprise. This, again, would be part of the curriculum presented to our students. Simplified overviews of our producers’ operations and the application of sustainable and diversified enterprises will be displayed to the students in ways that allow them to see and question the various types of crops, livestock, and operations of the enterprise and supply-chain. Basic education is paramount in encouraging students to understand their role as consumers in striving for diversification in production. Once the students understand the inherent risks to limiting diverse plant development, they will understand that supporting sustainable and diversified crop, livestock, and enterprises is essential for the survival of the farmer and rancher as well as for the overall benefit of the community. Consumer choice drives the producers provisions, and when the consumer displays knowledge and desire for diversified product due to education on the variety available, the producer is enabled to provide products the consumer needs. This depth of education can only come through active education and participation with the producers.

5. Examine the regional, economic, social and environmental implications of adopting sustainable agriculture practices and systems.

Our students will learn about different types of farming operations and the different types of effects they have on the environment. The benefits and risks will be weighed by the ones who experience them directly, and understanding of the individual’s role in the overall environment will be emphasized. Accurate information must be placed in the hands of our future decision-makers, because our environment’s health and continuation depends entirely on our youth. Education through hands-on experiences, relationships with producers, conversations with lawmakers, and personal practice are the most effective ways to edify the students equip them properly for the future. The changes in the students and their families’ purchasing methods may be as simple as supporting a local producer or as complex as developing our future leaders who help decide the tone of our regional, economic, social, and environmental involvement. By providing both an in-depth, local perspective as well as a national or international understanding, the young consumer will learn much more about his or her impact on the overall experience of life. Hands on learning, activities, and developing relationships with the producers are the best way for students to learn about the interactions and interdependence between communities and the agricultural communities around them.

Outreach Plan

Our initial target for our curriculum will be the children already participating in different after school education programs. Additionally, we will begin cultivating relationships withPueblo School for Arts and Sciences, located in Pueblo, Colorado. We want to continue expanding our contacts and involvement with the schools and give many students the opportunity to participate.

We plan on creating the curriculum for these students, and then incorporating at least five producers into that curriculum, where the farmers go to the students, and then the students go to the farmers.

Our efforts will be disclosed to the community via press-releases to various publications, as well as in That’s Natural! a small publication in Southern Colorado – dedicated to educating consumers about Sustainability.

While this program is being implemented, we will continue to reach out to other producers in the region, as well as additional schools that may be interested in having this type of curriculum in their classrooms.

After the program is complete, then our results and overall summary of the project will be filtered into the community via local publications and local news networks.

SARE Grant

Issue Statement

At the past Western SARE Conference in Albuquerque, there were several issue areas discussed – one of those was getting the youth involved in agriculture – teaching them from where their food comes, how it is raised and produced, and understanding the supply chain, including their purchasing selection as consumers.

There is a tragic lack of education within the school system when it comes to educating our youth about agriculture, the above-mentioned components of agriculture, and the deeply interrelated nature of our communities with the agricultural communities that surround and support them. Sometimes this relationship is can be followed in a concept termed “Farm-to-Fork.” Unfortunately, students and teachers do not always have the luxury of time and funds in order to fully develop the understanding of the this deep relationship, and we are suffering the consequences of poorly educated urbanization and fast-food entrenched decisions that negatively impact our dwindling farming communities as well as the overall health of our nation. Because agriculture is not a large part of the classroom, the crucial need for an educational component that shows the students the supply-chain of our food system is growing rapidly.

The effects to both the youth and the producers to have a program that allows these two groups of people to connect on the farm, learn about the processes, and be an active part of the Farm-to-Fork process are essential for the survival of the local farms that must continue in our communities. The students will someday become the purchasers and voters that will shape the community direction, and proper education is mandatory to ensure that successful community development can walk alongside the agricultural communities that helped found this nation. Relationships and deeper understanding of the producers will enable the consumers to support their neighbor producers before seeking sources from farther way areas. Additionally, these purchasers will decide to support the needs of the local producer when they understand the particular challenges that may arise. This relationship will continue to benefit both the producer and the student throughout their purchasing and producing years.

We are proposing to develop a curriculum for used in multiple elementary and middle schools in South-Eastern Colorado. This curriculum would be developed by our five producers and the other mentioned cooperators and through the coordination and relationship among community members and educators. This curriculum would be implemented in two classrooms per school and allow for the students to take various trips out to the producers’ land as well as be able to participate by growing their own produce, and being an active part of the agriculture operations. Funding for the curriculum must be sourced outside the school systems to allow for the fullest development of the programs unhampered by annual academic budgets already stretched thin. The development of the curriculum, and its expected success, will help herald in the opportunity for other schools to look again at reaching out to the local agriculture community and reignite the supportive and interdependent relationship that all communities – regardless of how urban or rural – are with their surrounding agriculture businesses. Everyone benefits from a curriculum that seeks to educate our youth in order to guarantee our legacy and endurance into the years to come.