San Diego, California, USA
January 9, 2015
The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture announced today the Foundation has reached more than 1.5 million school-age youths through its educational My American Farm program. In 2015, the web-based resource will have a new look to improve the user experience thanks to continued support from DuPont Pioneer.
"Over the past four years, we have reached more than a million school-aged youth through the My American Farm platform - from kiosks at agriculture conferences to desktops in the classroom," said American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman. "With support from DuPont Pioneer, we are increasing youth engagement in agriculture in classrooms coast-to-coast to improve overall literacy of production agriculture and inspire future food leaders."
My American Farm is an educational game platform launched in 2011 to engage pre-K through fifth grade learners in agriculture. Today the free site offers 19 agriculturally-themed games and more than 100 free educator resources such as lesson plans, activity sheets and comics.
"The My American Farm website is an amazing resource for elementary teachers," said Lauren Hartzler Arbogast, an elementary school teacher in Harrisonburg, Virginia. "Since most of my students are generations away from actual production agriculture, I'm thankful for a resource like My American Farm that makes agriculture exciting and relevant for the students."
The My American Farm educational resource is a special project of the Foundation and made possible through the support of title sponsor, DuPont Pioneer. Pioneer has contributed more than $1.4 million to advancing the programs in US classrooms in the last five years.
This year, My American Farm will launch two new STEM related games, pilot food science day camps and increase outreach to elementary school teachers. Users also can now search educational resources and sort games by grade level and subject area. In addition to being more mobile friendly, the site will provide new resources, like downloadable recipe cards, free marketing resources and ideas for setting up a learning experience at a fair or event.
To take advantage of the free My American Farm resources, games and activities, visit www.myamericanfarm.org.
DuPont Pioneer is the world's leading developer and supplier of advanced plant genetics, providing high-quality seeds to farmers in more than 90 countries. Pioneer provides agronomic support and services to help increase farmer productivity and profitability and strives to develop sustainable agricultural systems for people everywhere. Science with Service Delivering Success®.
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