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Here's a thread of mostly online resources to help teach agroecology / organic agriculture / crop production. I want to share them with you & keep them in one place for myself too. Pls reply w/others!
First, this space from Dr. Elizabeth Hoover @bluefancyshawl includes great stories, images, cases & a new piece about Native Food Systems in covid-19 time. https://gardenwarriorsgoodseeds.com/
Dr. Hoover and Devon Mihesuah also edited this new book about Indigenous Food Sovereignty: https://www.oupress.com/books/15107980/indigenous-food-sovereignty-in-the-united-sta
This includes many excellent suggestions - even if you are trying to keep book costs down for students, you might buy yourself a copy & feel motivated to include new examples in your course or assign an excerpt. https://twitter.com/leahjdouglas/status/1268311969272078337
In my Organic Food Production class, I also assign this Sci Am article from 2013, specifically about inclusion of African Americans in organic farming, including a very nice short film featuring @GilliardFarms. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/food-matters/organic-synthesis-towards-an-inclusion-of-african-americans-in-organic-farming/
Broadly, I highlight the resources & community of @SustainableAgEd. Their curriculum library with lots of examples if linked from this page (and yes - disclaimer - our Organic Ag Teaching Modules are currently featured): http://www.sustainableaged.org/teaching-resources-library/
The 2020 @SustainableAgEd conference is postponed to 2021, but *Friday July 17* they will hold a virtual preview that will include some breakouts & opportunity to meet others. This community is a good one if you're looking for that: http://www.sustainableaged.org/2020-ohio/
The 2016 SAEA conference changed my life. The theme was "Decolonizing Foodways" & honestly??? I didn't know what that really meant before I attended. I have done A LOT of my own learning & unlearning in the last 5 yrs & this conference launched a bunch of it (1/3 on this 
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Thank you to the organizers for posting the keynotes that were part of educating me. The opening keynote featured @cadwego @LuzCalvo Kamuela Joseph Nui Enos, Julie Grossman, Andrew K. Baskin, and Emilia Cordero Oceguera. Powerful perspectives to share.
The 2nd keynote on decolonizing foodways at the 2016 SAEA conference hosted by UCSC featured: Catriona Rueda Esquibel (SFSU), Ron Reed (Karuk Tribe), Gail Myers ( @Farms_to_Grow), & People's Kitchen Collective ( @510PK). (3/3)
There is also this thread from @NFUDC with more great resources: https://twitter.com/NFUDC/status/1267864699225485315?s=20
OK, time for some more general ag education resources that are out there. Places to get ideas that include some open-access work:
@NatSciEdu
inspires me w/so many amazing ideas.
@nactateachers
has a journal, society, and annual conference focused on ag teaching
@NatSciEdu
inspires me w/so many amazing ideas.
@nactateachers
has a journal, society, and annual conference focused on ag teaching
More ecological end:
@ESA_org has "Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology" https://esa.org/tiee2/
@biodiversifying Project Biodiversify includes great cases, slidesets, etc that you can use! AND you can contribute, too! https://projectbiodiversify.org/
@ESA_org has "Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology" https://esa.org/tiee2/
@biodiversifying Project Biodiversify includes great cases, slidesets, etc that you can use! AND you can contribute, too! https://projectbiodiversify.org/
I learned of @CBC_AMNH's "Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners" when a friend of mine invited me to apply to attend one of their "studios" (side note: THAT experience inspired me to use open-access resources in teaching & try to reduce costs for my students).
See their official journal "Lessons in Conservation" here: https://www.amnh.org/research/center-for-biodiversity-conservation/resources-and-publications/lessons-in-conservation
The open-access teaching modules available to educators from @CBC_AMNH Network of Conservation Educators & Practitioners are here: https://ncep.amnh.org/
Includes modules on ag biodiversity & one on GMO effects on conservation by yours truly and Dr Tim Leslie from LIU.
Includes modules on ag biodiversity & one on GMO effects on conservation by yours truly and Dr Tim Leslie from LIU.
National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science: https://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/
They have a TON of cases that relate to agriculture that you can freely download. For full access to teaching notes & answer keys you must be a paid subscriber (I believe $25/yr).
They have a TON of cases that relate to agriculture that you can freely download. For full access to teaching notes & answer keys you must be a paid subscriber (I believe $25/yr).
QUBES: addresses challenges in quantitative biology education. Many ecology friends have generally suggested this resource to me - here's an example case that looks great https://twitter.com/qubeshub/status/1278065306775232513?s=20
Soils-wise, @vaughan_soil and @yaminapressler led the charge on compiling resources specific to soil science info here: https://twitter.com/qubeshub/status/1278065306775232513?s=20
https://scienceofagriculture.org/ from @NMSUProductions is new-to-me and has really top-notch animations and interactive lessons about agriculture & soil
Organic-focused (especially grains): @PipelineFoods has one heck of a resource compilation here: https://www.pipelinefoods.com/resources
I've been carefully thinking about org ag ed for yrs & very grateful when a collab shared this w/ me.
I've been carefully thinking about org ag ed for yrs & very grateful when a collab shared this w/ me.
For organic ag ed, we found lots of overlap with Extension - great opportunities include @eOrganic_CP
site here https://eorganic.info/ with ALL WEBINARS HERE: https://www.youtube.com/user/eOrganic
site here https://eorganic.info/ with ALL WEBINARS HERE: https://www.youtube.com/user/eOrganic
When I say "we found" it's because of this work where we interviewed a bunch of organic ag instructors published with @NatSciEdu. It's open access & might also give you some ideas: https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.4195/nse2019.06.0010
While I'm self-promoting......(shrug).....I talked about this project on an eOrganic webinar here: .
OOPS I messed up the link on the soil science compilation from @yaminapressler & @vaughan_soil: here's the right one:
https://twitter.com/vaughan_soil/status/1238483648740872192?s=20
(I knew I wouldn't make it through the thread without an oops or two!!)
https://twitter.com/vaughan_soil/status/1238483648740872192?s=20
(I knew I wouldn't make it through the thread without an oops or two!!)
Books from @SAREProgram are SUCH A GIFT! https://www.sare.org/Learning-Center/Books
Most can be downloaded as PDF FOR FREE. I use Building Soils for Better Crops, Crop Rotation on Organic Farms, Managing Cov Crops Profitably, Systems Research for Ag & New American Farmer 2nd Ed. SO GOOD.
Most can be downloaded as PDF FOR FREE. I use Building Soils for Better Crops, Crop Rotation on Organic Farms, Managing Cov Crops Profitably, Systems Research for Ag & New American Farmer 2nd Ed. SO GOOD.
The amazing text "Teaching Organic Farming and Gardening: Resources for Instructors" is also FREELY AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD from UCSC Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems, leaders in sust ag ed.
https://casfs.ucsc.edu/about/publications/Teaching-Organic-Farming/
https://casfs.ucsc.edu/about/publications/Teaching-Organic-Farming/
I'm really excited to use agriculture decision-support tools as a teaching tool. Check the replies for some ideas from twitter last year: https://twitter.com/randajab/status/1153396923510022151?s=20
I need to take a break, but next I'll highlight tools I'm working on incorporating into teaching through a lovely ongoing project w @M_Schipanski @daniellamalin & others funded by @USDA_NIFA's ORG program...
hi hi, do you know about @CometFarm? Whole farm and ranch carbon and greenhouse gas accounting system by ColoSU & @USDA_NRCS. Awesome to use in class if you have a site-specific case for students to map & explore effects of mgmt change.
Link here: http://comet-farm.com/
Link here: http://comet-farm.com/
The COMET-Planner Tool ( http://comet-planner.com/ ) is a sister tool to @cometfarm (it is not site-specific and less detailed) but still offers county-level predictions of the impact of management changes on soil C and GHG. Used this in class w great success. Lmtd to US sites.
Next up @CoolFarmTool! I've focused on their greenhouse gas calculator: students can run crop-specific scenarios based in locations around the world (can run in 13 languages). Another way to visualize how mgmt relates to climate change mitigation. https://coolfarmtool.org/ .
The @CoolFarmTool also has water, biodiversity, and food waste (in beta) calculators, but I personally haven't dug into those yet. CFT's biodiv tool is one of the tools referenced in this @eorganic webinar about "tools for farmland biodiversity" https://eorganic.org/node/24296
More climate change * ag resources:
I assign videos from Global Weirding with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe @KHayhoe. She's amazing & the films are short and interesting. Includes regionally-specific (in US) films & one about plants & animals specifically. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi6RkdaEqgRVKi3AzidF4ow
I assign videos from Global Weirding with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe @KHayhoe. She's amazing & the films are short and interesting. Includes regionally-specific (in US) films & one about plants & animals specifically. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi6RkdaEqgRVKi3AzidF4ow
I also assign readings from the US's Fourth National Climate Assessment (yes, free!) which includes some ag-specific chapters and recommendations on both adaptation and mitigation. https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/
USDA's regional climate hubs @USDAClimateHubs have a lot of great resources, especially re adaptation to climate. I don't have specifics to rec but maybe @PeckAgEc @RESchattman @G_Roesch @julianjon @hnw2 et al have some to share with us to support teaching ag students?
Pivoting away from climate...maybe you could incorporate @PlantLoveStory into your class? Here's their stories filtered for "food" but all of them are brilliant. Maybe an assignment could be for students to write their own by way of intro or reflection? https://www.plantlovestories.com/blog/categories/food
growing up, I always thought I was "bad" at art. but w help, I have LOVED incorporating art into my courses. Bethann Garramon Merkle @commnatural gave me valuable training.
See her post here: https://commnatural.com/2017/01/13/suggestions-for-integrating-drawing-into-university-level-biology-courses/#more-7383
See her post here: https://commnatural.com/2017/01/13/suggestions-for-integrating-drawing-into-university-level-biology-courses/#more-7383
And @NatSciEdu has this new piece from @commnatural & colleagues: https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/nse2.20019
& this one about watercolors to improve waterfowl id: https://doi.org/10.4195/nse2019.04.0008
& this one about watercolors to improve waterfowl id: https://doi.org/10.4195/nse2019.04.0008
Thank you for sharing, Alexandra! Looking forward to watching this. https://twitter.com/Alexandra_Lyon/status/1281647795078746113?s=20
"Soil and Water Conservation: An Annotated Bibliography" from @ColbyDigsSoil is another great launching off point. Includes chapters on conservation practices in agriculture & on careers (!!) which is super cool.
https://kstatelibraries.pressbooks.pub/soilandwater/
https://kstatelibraries.pressbooks.pub/soilandwater/
