Final report for SPDP21-02
Project Information
We believe that fresh, local, affordable food should be available to support the health and wellbeing of all Kentuckians. For this to happen, youth from different backgrounds need opportunities to learn about community food systems and work together to improve access to food and farming. In Kentucky, more producers are selling directly to consumers and there is growing interest in “farm to schools” and “farm to hospitals,” but the overall number of farmers is shrinking, and Kentucky has already experienced a dramatic loss of farmers of color. What will it take to inspire a diverse array of youth to enter the field and innovate with new forms of agriculture that provide sufficient income, promote wellness, create community, and heal the earth?
Given the rise in middle school agriculture education programs in Kentucky that are in need of culturally relevant curriculum (there are 20 such programs, many in urban schools), and given the limited programming available to 4-H educators that focuses on food systems literacy in a state where Extension is well-respected and has a broad reach, this project focuses on addressing the needs of both stakeholder groups.
We developed an interactive curriculum and provided professional development to equip middle school agriculture educators and 4-H Agents at KSU and UK to teach about inclusive local food systems. Employing a storytelling pedagogy, we created three 20-minute videos that feature a racially diverse array of Kentucky farmers and local food practitioners. Ten 45-minute lessons have been built around sections of the films and use popular education techniques to engage students. This approach empowers middle school youth by involving them in interactive learning methods and discussions. The curriculum concludes with a group social action project that can be entered into a special category of the UK Martin-Gatton CAFÉ FFA/4H Field Day event. Ultimately, the curriculum encourages students to appreciate and support sustainable local food systems and consider careers in these fields.
Project activities included: collaborative development of the video series, creation of the accompanying “Food Farming, and Community” curriculum, hosting a 2-hour professional development training for middle school agriculture educators at the 2023 Career & Technical Education (CTE) statewide conference in Louisville, KY, facilitating a half-day training for 4-H Agents in 2023 in Lexington, KY, providing project support for six Agriculture Educators and four 4-H Agents who fully piloted the curriculum and participated in the research process, qualitative evaluation in May/June of 2024 which brought together educators to learn from each other, revision of the agriculture education version of the curriculum in line with feedback from teachers who taught this curriculum to 1200+ Kentucky youth (4-H revisions are ongoing as they will go through a different publication process), website design and open access publishing of the curriculum.
The project brought together the farmer networks and interviewing/storytelling capacities of Black Soil and Need More Acres Farm with the technical expertise of Agricultural Education and Extension faculty at UK. An advisory group of farmers, educators, and youth provided periodic input to key collaborators regarding the videos and curriculum development process.
Performance Target: Twenty middle school educators (4-H agents & agriculture education teachers) demonstrate their improved knowledge and skills by each teaching approximately 15 students (300 total) using this 10-lesson curriculum. Through an engaging, multi-media, story-based and interactive curriculum, the module we are developing aims to teach Kentucky youth about the value of diverse local food systems and expose them to a range of career paths in related fields. The three-part video series around which the lessons are built features a racially diverse array of Kentucky farmers and local food systems professionals, making it a particularly relevant teaching tool for non-traditional agriculture students.
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The target audience for this training is middle school agriculture educators and 4-H agents, although the curriculum and training may be of interest to secondary school teachers as well. The framework and approach is adaptable to a wide range of educational settings.
Project goals and objectives:
- To provide agriculture educators in Kentucky who teach students of color with curricula that is culturally relevant and inspires them (as well as their white peers!) to consider careers in sustainable agriculture.
- To provide agriculture educators in Kentucky with lessons that help students gain knowledge about the local food system.
- To provide agriculture educators in Kentucky with activities and resources that empower youth to build a more inclusive and sustainable food system.
- To develop and provide an interactive training for agricultural educators to learn about inclusive local food systems and increase their capacity to teach the new curriculum.
- To lift up the stories of black farmers and a racially diverse array of local food systems professionals in Kentucky, highlighting how they have built networks of support across racial and class divides.
- To expand outreach, financial support, market opportunities, and networking support to farmers of color who participate in the development and implementation of this educational curricula and accompanying professional development opportunity.
- To foster and deepen relationships amongst racially diverse youth, teachers, farmers, and university faculty across the Commonwealth around a shared knowledge base and concern for making our local food system more equitable and sustainable.
Given that this proposal intends to (a) develop a curriculum that is published online; (b) provide professional development for educators on how to implement the curriculum, it is useful to differentiate learning outcomes for the two component parts since they involve different target audiences.
Expected learning outcomes for story-based curriculum:
K=Knowledge; A=Attitudes; B=Behavior
Youth will learn to:
- (K) Critically analyze and challenge stereotypes of Kentucky farmers by exploring diverse agricultural profiles and practices, thereby broadening their understanding of the varied identities and roles within Kentucky’s farming community.
- (K) Explore and expand self-knowledge and introspection regarding one’s own story and experiences with the agriculture and food system.
- (K) Demonstrate a basic familiarity with some of the main concepts related to local food systems.
- (A) Recognize diversity as a positive value for our food and farming system.
- (A) Develop empathy for those whose lived experiences are different.
- (A/B) Increase one’s willingness and ability to see complex social issues from different perspectives and vantage points.
- (A) Place a higher value on farming as an important and desirable occupation.
- (B) Inquire into and begin to ask questions that lead to critical conversations about inclusivity in the food system.
- (B) Discover new skills and capacities for collective decision-making and social action that grows the local food system to the benefit of all.
- (B) Develop relationships with other youth, farmers, and educators from around the Commonwealth who share common commitments.
Expected learning outcomes for middle school educators who will receive our professional development training and support to pilot the curriculum:
Teachers will learn to:
- (K) Demonstrate a basic familiarity with some of the main concepts related to inclusive local food systems.
- (A/B) Increase their comfort level and ability to foster productive and authentic conversations about social issues as related to agriculture and food.
- (A/B) Realize the importance of supporting a racially diverse array of businesses and increase sourcing of local food and flowers from producers of color as part of everyday agriculture education work and Extension activities (e.g., buy product at retail cost from local black farmers when youth are practicing for 4-H horticulture judging).
- (B) Foster transformative learning for youth by guiding them through the curriculum and engaging them in a social action project of their own design.
- (B) Develop relationships with other educators, farmers, and youth from around the Commonwealth who share a common set of commitments.
Education
We worked with a core team of agricultural educators, farmers, and agricultural-related businesses to develop this middle school curriculum. The complete curriculum along with the teacher’s manual was developed to transfer knowledge about inclusive and sustainable local food systems to a wide variety of youth.
Digital storytelling is a powerful tool for challenging stereotypes, fostering connection across difference, and inspiring action; thus, the heart of the curriculum is three 20-minute videos that lift up the stories of black Kentucky farmers and a diverse array of food systems professionals that are working together to grow the local food system. Additionally, the 10 lessons and social action project that is built around these videos utilizes a popular education approach (Friere 2018), which recognizes that all students have important lived experiences with the food system to share. The classroom activities encourage sharing of this knowledge and develop from the collective experience of the group within their particular context.
The educator training also benefitted from this popular educational approach as teachers were introduced to the videos and lessons, but also had an opportunity to try out these activities and explore how the content and conversation might develop differently in light of the needs and lived experiences of differently positioned youth.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
Development of 3-part digital storytelling video series (each episode is 20 minutes).
Episode 1, "The story of Kentucky farmers and how partnerships are growing the local food system for everyone," is about what it means to be a Kentucky farmer producing for the local food system. This episode is for youth who may be interested in farming in urban or rural areas. It shows students how to get into this field and highlights how farmers work together to create a community of mutual aid and support and expand options for everyone. It features two Kentucky farmers who direct market their meat and produce, along with guest appearances from five other farmers who participated in the 2022 Equity in Ag event hosted by Need More Acres Farm.
Episode 2, "Local food connectors grow markets for farmers and address fresh food access," demonstrates that farming is only one aspect of the local food system, emphasizing the diverse ways that students can play a role in their local food system to support their community. This episode focuses on the importance of education, food access, and supporting the local food economy through farmers markets and co-ops. It underscores the importance that everyone, regardless of income or circumstance, can access fresh, local produce. It features an Extension Family & Consumer Sciences Agent (nutritionist), Farmers Market Manager, and Produce Manager/Buyer for a local grocery story.
Episode 3, "Youth farmers explore the importance of passion, hard work, sustainability, and community in agriculture," illustrates diverse ways that teenagers can be important players in the local food system. The video features 3 Kentucky youth in rural and urban settings who are passionate about making a difference in their communities through beekeeping, farming, and community-based local food systems work. The youth also speak to the importance of sustainable agriculture practices for the future. A key message is that there are many meaningful ways for youth to get involved in their local food system, and that there are resources (like ag educators) to support them along the way. The episode also includes a middle school agriculture educator.
In addition, the series features a social influencer in the Intro and Outro. Avery Williamson grew up in 4-H, played football at UK, retired from playing professional football, and is now returning to farming in his hometown of Milan. Brandon Turner, from Unsung Media, was our local filmmaker.
Status: Completed June/July 2023
Accomplishments: Clips from these videos were shared with educators at both professional development trainings, and they prompted rich discussion. They were then utilized by the 10 educators (6 ag edu teachers and 4 4-H agents) who completed the pilot study and taught the curriculum to 1200+ students. We recommended that teachers only show 10 minutes of video per lesson, but some showed a small clip or an entire episode at a time. Others stopped the videos frequently to engage students in conversation to avoid losing the attention of their students.
In the educator focus groups at the conclusion of the pilot, all but one felt the videos resonated with their students and were an important part of their learning. Consider the following teacher comment, who explained how the videos paired well with the activity where students were asked to draw a Kentucky farmer (this is near the beginning of the curriculum). He then has them repeat this same exercise at the end of the curriculum to gauge student learning. Note that this agriculture educator teaches at a middle school that is 60% students of color. He explains: "I mean, my students, they went from, I think, a very stereotypical drawing...a drawing of what they thought was a typical farmer--like Old McDonald or saying things like, 'Black people do not farm!' or 'the last time black people were farming it wasn't a good thing...' and I was like, 'we'll get to that towards the end of the semester!' and now my students are drawing what I assume is themselves, right, like I saw things where students are now like drawing young people in suits! And they are saying, 'I would like to be a soil scientist!'...which I think the videos really created that space for students to see that there are a multitude of people in the field." An educator in a school that was majority white also noted, "And I think the videos did a good job of showing the diversity in Kentucky agriculture and making those connections for them." Youth also liked that the videos were introduced by a former NFL player who also farms.
***Note that the videos were less successful in the context of 4-H, however, as the students seldom watch videos and instead expect hands-on activities, so educators felt pressure to minimize them. .
Development of ten 45-minute lesson plans + social action project that integrate the 3 videos.
MODULE: Introducing the Food System
Lesson 1: Introducing the Food System; the Path of My Popcorn
Lesson 2: Global vs. Local Food Systems
MODULE: Farming for the Kentucky Local Food System
Lesson 3: Challenging the “Single Story” of a Kentucky Farmer (includes first half of
Episode 1)
Lesson 4: The Importance of Partnerships for Local Food Producers (includes the second half
of Episode 1)
MODULE: How Food Cultivates Community, Culture, & Resilience
Lesson 5: Food, Culture, Access, and Community (includes first half of Episode 2)
Lesson 6: Beyond Farming: The Role of Local Food Connectors (includes the second half of
Episode 2)
Lesson 7: Careers in Agriculture and Local Food Systems
Lesson 8: Sustainability and Ecological Diversity (includes first half of Episode 3)
MODULE: Digging in, Taking Root
Lesson 9: Just Get Started! (includes second half of Episode 3)
Lesson 10: Mini Presentations and Final Project
Social Action Project – Guidelines/rubric to help teachers support full class / group projects that allow students to apply what they learned and take action to improve their local food system.
Status: Completed June/July 2023
Accomplishments: Feedback from our team and an informal advisory board including youth educators identified a two-week time frame as ideal for the curriculum. Many agriculture education classes at the middle school level have 45-minute class periods and teachers are looking to fill several weeks of class given the dearth of available resources and materials. 4-H was particularly excited about building the curriculum around a social action project, which fits their model of hands-on, project-based learning. Thus we worked with these two priorities to develop a cohesive local foods curriculum built around our video footage featuring a racially diverse array of Kentucky farmers and local food practitioners.
Piloting of Episode 1 and related lessons in a middle school school agriculture education classroom.
The first few lessons of the curriculum were successfully taught in two urban middle school ag education classrooms in May 2023.
Status: Completed May 2023
Accomplishments:
The teacher and 25 racially diverse students felt the lessons and video were engaging, informative, and well-pitched to a middle school audience. Students were able to explain key lesson ideas and talk about how the curriculum challenged their own assumptions and thinking. The lessons were adapted based on their informal feedback and observational data. The importance of this early pilot was to ensure that the lessons, as developed, would work in this type of educational context.
Introduce the curriculum and train educators on how to teach it.
We offered two trainings on the new curriculum. On July 20, 2023, we provided a two-hour professional development training on the curriculum at the annual Career and Technical Education conference in Louisville, KY. We pitched it specifically for middle school agriculture educators and had 11 people who attended. Each participant was given a binder with all the lessons (facilitator's guide, activities, PowerPoints, handouts) and access to the videos. During the training we sampled some of the popular education tools and walked through the content.
On December 19, 2023 we offered a half-day retreat for 4-H Agents who were interested in piloting the curriculum and revising it for the 4-H context. Seven Agents from around the state attended. Because we had more time for this training (and had a pool of highly experienced educators as part of this curriculum review team), we facilitated the first few lessons and then grouped Agents off and had them teach the lessons to each other. We discussed existing strengths and weaknesses of the program, how to make the lessons even more engaging, and then brainstormed what population/context would be most appropriate to target given that few Agents have the opportunity to work for an extended period of time with the same kids in an after-school or in-school setting (note: they did not feel that a "food systems" program would have enough draw for a club). Partnering with a school where they already had connections to an agriculture teacher or leadership program was lifted up as a good bet, but they would need to pick and choose lessons or perhaps focus on a project.
Status: Completed 2023
Accomplishments:
The trainings appear to have succeeded in getting educators excited about participating in the pilot, and they indicated that they learned a lot.
At CTE, 7/11 teachers indicated they were definitely interested in piloting the curriculum that coming year. When asked why they attended the session, participants noted that they were "looking for new teaching materials -- particularly for non-traditional agriculture students" as well as an "interest in local foods." All but one person rated the workshop as "very good" (one rated it as "good.") and absolutely everyone selected that they "learned a lot." The highlight of the workshop included, "the inclusivity," "the flow of the videos with the activities," "doing interactive activities and discussing different ways to do them," and "did a great job expressing how diversity could be included in education." As for the key take-home points, participants expressed sentiments such as, "Today I gained information on how to connect our local farms to our class. I also learned how much thought went into every aspect of this curriculum and that it wasn’t thrown together, but intentionally written for middle school." and "I gained a better knowledge of the importance of teaching about local farming and food systems as well as diversity in agriculture."
At the workshop for Agents, educators took on much more of a co-facilitator role. Agents who participated were already seasoned facilitators and most knew a lot about local foods and were already committed to working with students from a variety of backgrounds. Nonetheless, they enjoyed walking through the curriculum and working out the kinks in real time. Of the five who filled out the evaluation, 4/5 rated it as "very good" (and one rated it as "good.") 80% felt they were "well-prepared" to teach the curriculum, and what they liked best about the training included the following: "I liked the flexibility of the training, that we all knew that this curriculum was great we just needed to make it fit for 4-H. I loved the opportunity to really take it apart and piece together what would work for our specific counties and talk through that process with other 4-H staff." "Hands-on and teach backs!"
Piloting of the entire curriculum by 10 educators across Kentucky
Accomplishments: During the 2024-2025 school year, 6 agriculture education teachers and 4 4-H agents piloted this curriculum. In a post-test survey, these educators indicated which lessons they had taught, which were most impactful, and which were least impactful for student learning.
The agriculture educators (n=6) generally taught the curriculum 3-4 times during the year as students rotated through electives. All used the lessons in the order they were presented and struggled to get all the way through the curriculum, even devoting a full two weeks to the lessons. Thus, they emphasized student learning associated with the topics covered in the earlier part of the curriculum. This left less time to dig as deeply into Episode 3 and the topic of sustainability. Only one agriculture educator was able to help her students complete a social action project. Her students decided to make local food boxes to distribute to families in need through her Family Resource Center, which was an exciting project recently covered by UK News. The teachers were varied in terms of their demographics (2 men, 2 educators of color), and so too were their schools (2 rural counties, 4 are more than 60% low-income, 2 are more than 40% students of color).
The 4-H Agents (n=4) who were successful in piloting the program generally only got through 2-4 lessons with a single group of students. All taught in a school setting, either with a leadership group, in a general elective class, or with agriculture education students. They either picked which lessons they thought would be most successful or let the students choose the topic. None were able to carry students through a social action project, but there was some interest if they could work together over the summer and submit to State Fair. These educators were also diverse in terms of race, gender, and rurality of their counties.
Status: Completed 2024
Accomplishments: Qualitative and quantitative data was collected to gauge student learning and educator learning. All 10 educators completed a pre-test and post-test and also participated in group interviews (note that other educators did use the curriculum but did not choose to participate in the pilot research; also other 4H agents participated in part of the research process but were unable to find a way to get in to a school to teach the lessons. They plan to do so next year. No data was collected directly from youth, so their learning outcomes are measured by teacher perceptions/observations that were reported to us.
Learning outcomes for youth: When asked to their agreement with the following statement, "Overall, students learned a great deal from this curriculum," agriculture educators and 4H agents indicated they "agree." Ag educators more strongly agreed that the "curriculum resonated with underrepresented students in my classes" than did the 4-H agents. Educators were mixed on whether the curriculum "increased students' interest in careers related to agriculture and/or local foods" with some respondents marking "strongly agree" while others marked "disagree." They did agree, however, that "the lessons increased student interest in developing equitable and sustainable local food systems." From the qualitative research, it appears that the highlight of this curriculum is really that it helps youth to start to connect the dots and broaden their understanding of agriculture to think in "food systems" ways. For 4H Agents who were teaching more advanced agriculture students, the students were less engaged because they already had a passing familiarity with the topic. But for regular middle school agriculture education students, this was the first time that many of them ever thought about where their food came from. For them, the lessons were extremely impactful. Consider the following comments from agriculture educators: "Students realized that if it wasn’t for the many Dollar Generals in our county, Save a Lot, and the farmers market, we would be considered a food desert. This made them realize how much of an impact these places had on us. Students learned about the different food assistance plans and that some of their families could benefit." "My students perspectives on agriculture really changed. I usually see this change once we travel and I expose them to agriculture in ways they wouldn't think, but this brought the exposure to the room. My students also sparked an interest in where their food was coming from (running to me in the cafe to tell they researched their scooby snacks or apples origins). My garden club interest form is quite full for next year too, and I have this curriculum to thank!"
Learning outcomes for educators: Matched pre-test and post-test data helps reveal what teachers learned and gained from this curriculum. The questions where they had the most knowledge growth for agriculture educators include the following: local food systems, familiarity with Kentucky Double Dollars, knowledge about CSAs, and how to work with underrepresented students. They agreed that they generally felt comfortable teaching the curriculum as well. Finally, 5/6 of the agriculture educators who participated in the research plan to continue to teach the curriculum next year. 3/4 of the 4H agents who participated in the research also plan to teach the curriculum next year (plus an addition 2 agents who couldn't figure out how to do so, but have a plan after listening to other agents).
All in all, we were very proud of our educators and all they accomplished! Reaching 1200 students in the first year of the pilot was far beyond our hopes and expectations.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Learning Outcomes
Project Outcomes
Information Products
- Food, Farming, and Community website
- Episode 1: The story of Kentucky farmers and how partnerships are growing the local food system for everyone
- Episode 2: Local food connectors grow markets for farmers and address fresh food access
- Episode 3: Youth farmers explore the importance of passion, hard work, sustainability, and community in agriculture.
- Lesson Plans (10) for Food, Farming, & Community curriculum