Area Instructors Receive Grant Funding To Aid With Integration Of Agriculture Into The Classroom

Four area instructors are among 72 receiving grants from the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation (IALF). Executive Director, Will Fett, says the Agriculture in the Classroom Teacher Supplement Grants are generally awarded once per year.

When reviewing applications, they are looking for integration of agriculture into the classroom.

Now in their seventh year, the IALF is acting as grant administrators for the originator and primary funding arm, the Iowa Farm Bureau. Fett says they have seen extremely innovative and interesting project proposals in the applications.

Fett adds that many students who live in Iowa are now more removed from farming than ever before.

The IALF has a number of programs for students, teachers and general outreach programs for the public. Two recent initiatives include the March Read Across Iowa program, during which they distributed more than 850 book kits to educators across the state, encouraging reading with the added bonus of learning about agriculture. This past year was also the first for the Bushel of Stories program. This engaged student authors in upper elementary and middle school. The top two books will be published sometime this summer, including “ABC Agriculture,” a book authored by Denison Middle School student, Deanna Anderson. Fett says it is exciting to see the number of teachers tuning in and utilizing the IALF resources increasing, particularly during the pandemic. Website traffic, he says has grown over the past year from about 1,300 visits per month to more than 13,000. Details on the local grant award winners, available programs and resources for educators can be found below.

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Local grant recipients: