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Ag in the Classroom adapts to pandemic with virtual farm tours
A Minnesota farmer involved in Ag in the Classroom says just like for most educators, some teaching methods have changed because of COVID-19.
Wanda Patsche, a crop and livestock producer in Martin County, tells Brownfield there are usually four in-person teacher tours during the summer to show how food is produced so the teachers can bring that information back to their students.
“We couldn’t do that this year, but we did have virtual tours, which actually worked better because we could take them to more places and actually show them more intimate settings within agriculture.”
She says more than 100 teachers signed up for the virtual tours that highlighted farms in four different parts of the state.
“And then we would put them in breakout sessions. There we could have small groups all within their grade levels that they’re teaching, and we could look at specific lessons they could actually bring into their classrooms that apply to the tour stops we had that day.”
Patsche says the response was so good that teachers asked for the virtual farm tours to be a part of Minnesota Ag in the Classroom during the school year, which they are now doing.
