Agriculture and the Government (A Lesson from the Farm Facts Instructor’S Guide) Is Used with Permission from the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture ®
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Agriculture and the Government (a lesson from the Farm Facts Instructor’s Guide) is used with permission from the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture ®. For more information about Farm Facts and the other educational materials and programs of the foundation please visit www.ageducate.org. Agriculture and the Government tory, can His Supporting Information Ameri ent bjects: s, Curr Su Civic Much has been written, reported and criticized about farm omics, Econ matics programs. As with other subjects that are foreign to those no , Mathe Events longer involved in production agriculture, farm programs are not easily understood. However, Brief Description since the abundance of food is essential to any Misconceptions about the government’s civilization, there has long been public involvement in our food production support to ensure a stable and affordable food system will be addressed in this lesson. supply. Students will examine the history, Government support for agriculture began current data, current agricultural early in our nation’s history. Presidents programs, and make comparisons to what they believe they understand about Washington and Jefferson experimented with farm programs. new plants and growing techniques as farmers. George Washington first suggested that Congress Objectives create an agriculture department in 1799. Several actions occurred At the end of this unit, the students will before the creation of a Department of Agriculture. First, the be able to: United States Patent Office and agriculture committee in the 1. describe how much of the United House of Representatives followed by an agriculture committee States Department of Agriculture’s in the Senate were formed. The Department of Agriculture was budget is allocated to social welfare actually started by Abraham Lincoln. He signed the bill into law programs, food safety, conservation authorizing the formation of the department on May 15, 1862, and programs, and farm subsidies; called it the “people’s department.” Initially, the objectives of 2. read a selection for content and the department were to collect, analyze and research governmental support for disseminate information and statistics agriculture; about agriculture, and collect and 3. analyze graphic depictions of distribute new plants and plant materials information; that had potential to improve production, 4. depict information graphically; increase variety of foods, and improve 5. calculate percentages from data pro- farm income. vided; and 6. describe trends in federal spending. Once the Department of Agriculture was formed, other acts benefiting Vocabulary : Niche, infrastructure, agriculture followed. On July 2, heifer 1862, Lincoln signed into law the Morrill Act authorizing the Skills : Analyzing, applying, calculat- development of Land Grant Col- ing, collaborating, collecting data, leges to teach agriculture and mechanical arts. The 1862 Home- communicating, comparing similarities stead Act opened land for settlement. The Hatch Act created Ex- and differences, comprehending, periment Stations for agricultural research in 1887. In 1890, the concluding, creating graphs, creative Land Grant College base was broadened. A second Morrill Act thinking, debating, discussing, evaluat- established more institutions and created the historically black ing, identifying, inferring, interpreting, colleges. These colleges and universities (including Cornell, Mas- listening, reading, recording, researching, sachusetts Institute of Technology, and 65 other institutions) sequencing, synthesizing, writing along with experiment stations have grown to be the leading ©Copyright 2007 American Farm Bureau® Foundation for Agriculture. All rights reserved. 29 institutions in the world for research and education 4. Have the students select data to graphically in agriculture and engineering. The Smith-Lever Act depict changes over time that have impacted took the research of the Land Grant Colleges and the economy of the United States and/or Experiment Stations a step further by creating the necessitated government intervention. For Cooperative Extension system in 1914. During the example, they could depict price of wheat Great Depression, the focus changed to controlling before World War I, during World War I, and farm surpluses then eventually increasing farm reve- after World War I in 1929, and in 1931. nue, feeding and nutrition programs, and conserva- 5. Divide the class into teams of twos or threes. tion of soil. This information is provided in much Have each group research and report on one of greater detail in the first student activity Investing in the acts and or advances listed. Have the Agriculture . Many of these functions continue today groups report on the acts in sequential order to as the students will learn in this lesson. As you can gain an understanding of the governmental see, government’s role in agriculture is much more activity from 1950 through 2007 and current than support payments for some farm commodities. issues involving public support and investment in agriculture. Materials • Farm Facts Booklets and/or Farm Facts CD 1954 Agriculture Act ROM – Educator’s Version 1956 Soil Bank Program • One copy of Investing in Agriculture per student 1965 Child Nutrition Act • Reference materials and Internet access 1970 Environmental Quality Act • Copies of the student handout pages 1983 Payment-In-Kind Act 1985 Food Security Act, Food for Progress Act 1990 Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade Act 1996 Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act 2002 Farm Security and Rural Investment Act Today Biotechnology Certified Organic Program Homeland Security Bio-based Fuels Activity One - Activity Two – Investing in Agriculture 1. Show the America’s Heartland segment #101 - What is ag’s share of federal spending? Homesteading and have the students read Invest- 1. Have the students complete Student Handout 7 ing in Agriculture and complete Student Hand- - Slicing Up the USDA Budget using pages 12 out 5. Discuss the information. and 13 in the Farm Facts booklet or the 2. Have the students read Investing in Agriculture PowerPoint slides. and complete Student Handout 6. Discuss the 2. Discuss the information. In particular, focus information. on the fact that most of the USDA budget has 3. Have the students access and read the informa- nothing to do with farmers or subsidizing farm tion found in Investing in Agriculture , Signifi- production. In fact, the social programs of the cant Events in Agricultural History found on department far outweigh the other programs. pages 28 and 29 in the Farm Facts booklet and Almost half of the USDA budget is spent on The History of American Agriculture in the food, feeding and nutrition programs. Ask: time line found at Growing a Nation “What nutrition programs does the USDA www.agclassroom.org/gan/index.htm. support?” (School Lunch Program; School Breakfast Program; Food Stamp Program; ® ©Copyright 2007 American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture. All rights reserved. 30 Women, Infant and Children Program [WIC]; federal budget is spent on farm programs.” Food and Consumer Education Programs, etc.) They have added the farm programs and conservation program budgets together “What other programs could be considered social because they are direct payments to farmers. programs that benefit the consumers rather than More information is available at the Economic the producers?” (Food Safety and Inspection. Research Service Briefing Room at Conservation programs improve the environment www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/FarmPolicy/. and help keep the water clean. Forest Service manages national forests. Rural development Evaluation Options supports rural infrastructure, but most of the 1. Assess the accuracy of student work on the rural residents today are not farmers. The student handout pages and small group education component of Research, Education projects. and Economics benefits mainly non-farm 2. Have the students write an essay titled: citizens, although it benefits farmers as well. The “Investing in Agriculture Benefits America” same is true for the research component. or “USDA, More than Farm Programs.” It can Foreign Agricultural Service funding includes focus on the past, present, or future. food aid and international nutrition and educa- tion programs.) Credits Agriculture Fact Book . United States Department of the Agriculture. www.usda.gov/factbook Centennial Edition of USDA. May 9, 1962. Page 2. U.S. History Collection. National Agriculture Library. www.nal.usda.gov. Farm and Commodity Policy , Briefing Room, Economic Research Service, United States De- partment of Agriculture. www.ers.usda.gov/ 3. Have the students discuss whether they knew this Briefing/FarmPolicy/. information or if they thought that the USDA only helped farmers. First U.S. Patent Issued Today in 1790. United 4. Ask the students if all commodities are supported States Patent and Trademark Office. July 31, by governmental programs in the Farm Bill. (No) 2002. www.uspto.gov. Ask: “Which commodities have direct support A History of American Agriculture . Growing A payment programs?” (Wheat, rice, corn, sor- Nation. Ag in the Classroom, United States De- ghum, barley, oats, cotton, peanuts, soy- partment of Agriculture. beans, wool, and mohair. Other com- www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/ modities have other types of ag_ed.htm. government programs such as sugar, Morrill Act . Primary Documents in Ameri- which has production quotas, a loan can History, Collections & Bibliographies,