What is Farm Camp?
Farm Camp is a three-day immersive agriculture experience customized for classrooms Grades 5-12. A Farm Camp experience comprises three parts.
- In classroom learning prior to the Farm Camp Experience by using lessons from Minnesota Ag in the Classroom or Classroom resources
- Tour the farm or agribusiness site
- Follow up with a career exploration lesson
How are students engaged at Farm Camp?
1) Pre-Tour Lessons
Prior to the Farm Camp experience, we give educators a list of lessons they can use to help give students background knowledge. Imagine for a moment learning how milk from a cow gets to the grocery store. Teachers can use lesson, From Cow to Carton: Milk’s Journey to the Customer. When students arrive on the farm, they already have knowledge about the journey, which will allow them to ask more in-depth questions. We give lessons to the educators prior to the on-farm experience.
2) On Farm Experiences with an AgHost
We work with AgHosts (farm or agribusiness) to not only give a tour of their farm, but to engage with the students by providing opportunities where they can touch, feel, smell and hear. These active learning experiences will create a memorable event for them and one they will remember for a very long time.
We also encourage AgHosts to share personal stories with the students. Personalized stories such as how they became farmers and what helped them make their decision to go into farming. We also ask they share how many types of jobs or careers are needed on the farm, such as production workers to animal nutritionists to veterinarians to construction to electricians to truckers to business managers.
We work with AgHosts (farm or agribusiness) to not only give a tour of their farm, but to engage with the students by providing opportunities where they can touch, feel, smell and hear. These active learning experiences will create a memorable event for them and one they will remember for a very long time.
We also encourage AgHosts to share personal stories with the students. Personalized stories such as how they became farmers and what helped them make their decision to go into farming. We also ask they share how many types of jobs or careers are needed on the farm, such as production workers to animal nutritionists to veterinarians to construction to electricians to truckers to business managers.
3) Career Exploration
Career Exploration is an important follow up with Farm Camp. We show students different careers that are available in agriculture. In Minnesota, 1 out of every 10 jobs is ag related. We give career lessons to students as the last part of the Farm Camp experience. We provide lessons to the educators.
For more information or to connect with the Farm Camp Director, please go to the Farm Camp website.