Interviews of farmers as a teaching resource for agriculture literacy in home economics

It is generally held that many people today have lost touch with where their food comes from and who produces the food (Berry, 1990; 1996; 2009; Dyg, 2014; Hess & Trexler, 2011; Kneen, 1993; Smith, 2009a; 2009b; Vidgen & Gallegos, 2012). Foods and Nutrition programs in schools teach students about healthy eating and how to prepare food but sometimes neglect putting students in touch with the people who supply the ingredients for the food products being made. In this paper I review the concept of agricultural literacy and make the case that today’s students should have a greater understanding of the people who produce food. I describe how I interviewed and surveyed farmers in order to use the interviews as a teaching resource for agriculture literacy in foods and nutrition courses. I then created a teaching resource that includes learning outcomes, suggested teaching activities, background information for the teacher and references for each of the interviews. The resource book is designed so that it can be separated from this larger document to be used in professional development workshops and circulated among home economics teachers.Education, Faculty ofCurriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department ofUnreviewedGraduat