Written by Jonathan Eisenthal

Minnesota Ag In The Classroom is a unique public-private partnership that provides teachers with agriculture education materials and training that meet Minnesota education standards. The program has allowed thousands in education bring an ag-focused curriculum to their students.

Since November, the group has had a new executive director, Ann Marie Ward, an educator who has spent her life communicating her enthusiasm for agriculture. Her most recent role was director of 4-H for Beltrami County, where she brought participation in the 4-H Science of Agriculture Challenge to a new level of enthusiasm and accomplishment among junior high and high school students in the county.

Ward sees one of the main functions of Minnesota Ag In The Classroom is the building of partnerships with educators. In this age when most people are quite remote from the farms, building this partnership is vital.

“Building partnerships is something I have always enjoyed doing and that I find fulfilling as well,” said Ward. “Partnership, in a practical sense, turns out to be a matter of bringing people together who otherwise would not have connected.”

Interested in ag education resources at home? Ag In The Classroom has great e-learning sources that are perfect for educators and parents, which you can find here.

Minnesota Ag In The Classroom lessons reached 135,000 students last year. In addition to producing curriculum materials, the group provides training sessions to teachers. Last program year, more than a thousand teachers received training. A large number of these are young teachers just entering the field who will be able to take this curriculum with them for a full career.

“We train the teachers, they impact children,” said Ward. “We train the teachers, who can impact children for 20 to 30 years. That’s our mission. To be that resource, for accurate agriculture-based curriculum,” said Ward. Each Ag in the Classrom lesson meets the Minnesota’s academic standards, so teachers can use each to meet graduation standards.

Ward has seen little doubt that teachers want what Minnesota Ag In The Classroom offers. For example, there has been a 39-percent increase so far in 2020 for kindergarten-second grade classrooms over the same period last year.

Minnesota Corn has been a proud supporter of Ag In The Classroom for many years as part of its goal to share information about agriculture with the next generation.

“A lot of young people out there are either getting the wrong information about agriculture, or no information at all,” said Minnesota Corn Research & Promotion Council Chairman Scott Winslow, who farms in Fountain. “One of the best things we’ve come across for connecting that generation to what we do is Ag In The Classroom, which we have supported for more than 20 years. We believe it is really making an impact.”