While searching for the latest trends in American agricultural education, one stood out in Minnesota: “Unprecedented growth.”
That’s the description from Lavyne Rada, executive director of Minnesota FFA. Growth took off shortly after COVID-19.
The Minnesota Association of Agricultural Educators added over 100 new ag teachers in the last five years. Ag education programs doubled in size with almost 40 school districts adding new ag education options.
“We are alive, strong and growing faster than we can handle,” Rada said with a laugh.
The additions bring the number of ag teachers in Minnesota to 338 in 232 schools across 227 school districts.
There are likely several factors behind the growth, including a curiosity about food, Rada said.
“I think a large number of people want to know where food comes from,” she said. “That interest has likely led to a discovery about the large number of available careers in agriculture, food production, and natural resources that people may not have known.”
A lot of schools may also be seeing growth from the flexibility in an agricultural teaching license.
“Our ag teachers can instruct students on plants, animals, natural resources, fuels, engines and more,” she said. “They can also apply those subjects in the context of math and science.”
When she taught in Hutchinson, Minnesota, food chemistry was amongst her courses.
“Our ag teachers can teach about subjects like physics and chemistry through an agricultural lens,” she said. “Kids can get a better understanding of abstract subjects like physics and chemistry through more hands-on ag education.”
Southwestern Minnesota is a good example of the increased interest in ag education. Tom Appel, executive director of the Minnesota Association of Agricultural Educators, originally spent years in the classroom, starting as an ag teacher in 1979.
“There virtually is no school in this part of the state that doesn’t have at least two or three instructors,” he said. “I believe Willmar recently added either their fifth or sixth ag teacher. While that’s not the norm, we see more and more two and three-person departments.”
Growth in southwestern Minnesota has been somewhat steady over the years. But it’s not just rural parts of the state.
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The Twin Cities metro area is also seeing an ag education boom. There are more than 30 ag programs in the metro area. About one-quarter of the state’s programs are in urban areas.
“They sometimes think FFA is all about farming and production agriculture,” Rada said. “Once into ag education, they find out there’s a lot more to it, including drones, greenhouses and food, and they find out how applicable it is to everyone’s lives.”
Even growing up on a dairy farm in Milbank, South Dakota, Rada felt she had a limited idea of what agriculture was. Then, she got into her first class, and suddenly, they were running a greenhouse.
“That’s where I found my real love for agriculture,” she said. “There’s a place for everyone in agriculture.”
Another surprise may be that St. Paul has had agricultural education in its schools for the past two decades. There’s even an agriculture charter school in Vadnais Heights. Minneapolis opened an ag program at Edison High School three years ago.
And it’s not just the big metro schools that get a lot of benefits from agricultural education. Even the smaller towns in rural Minnesota find value in agricultural education, especially with the versatility of education topics.
“During the past 20-30 years, many of our smaller schools had an industrial arts teacher, consumer sciences instructor, and other special skills,” Appel recalled.” We’ve had a lot of attrition in some of the other career and tech disciplines, and smaller schools may not have the budget to hire more teachers in each specialty.
“With an agricultural license, teachers can be a lot more flexible,” he added. “It’s the most versatile curriculum that we have. It can cover anything from mechanics to business to horticulture and food science.”
He’s observed that increasing graduation requirements in the math and science areas have begun to squeeze out some of the elective options available in a seven-hour school day. That means elective instructors often get squeezed out as well.
There is a lot of applied learning in agricultural education, which may be what’s sparking a lot of interest. Natural resources and horticulture are very common, Rada said, and there are more Farm to School Programs popping up, as well.
“Students are growing food in their schools, with that food getting certified for school lunch programs,” Rada said. “Students seem to enjoy the hands-on learning and the chance to see some tangible results.
“Honestly, I think agriculture is the original STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) program,” she added. “The purpose of STEM is to help students understand the possible applications of science and math. Agriculture has been doing that for a long time.”
Appel taught hands-on in the classroom for 37 years and said his favorite part of agriculture education was working with students.
“There’s nothing better than working with students and watching them experience the ‘a-ha’ moment when they learn something and it clicks,” he said. “That’s the part of it I miss the most.”
Someone looking to break into agricultural education as their first career or even a new career option will find many opportunities in Minnesota. But the shortage of ag teachers isn’t due to a lack of interest.
“We have a shortage because we’re growing so fast,” Rada said. “Last year, we had about 75 openings. Right now, we have 46 new teachers in our induction program for first-year teachers. We’ll have openings next year, too, so there’s a lot of opportunity for someone who wants to teach.”
Chad started out as a radio broadcaster for 22 years, then made the switch to full-time freelance journalism. He grew up working on the family dairy farm, and enjoys staying busy with his wife and six children. Reach him at editorial@midwestmessenger.com.