Ag Mag

Published November 02 2010


Ag Mag redesigned, now available to N.D. teachers

Jamestown Sun

North Dakota Ag Mag, a teaching tool that provides information about agriculture to thousands of North Dakota students, has a new look.

“Corn is the subject of the first full-color issue of Ag Mag,” said Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring. “Corn is an increasingly important crop in our state, and this new magazine will help young people better understand the history of corn, how it is produced and the many uses we have for corn.”

Goehring said he hopes more teachers in grades 3, 4 and 5 will take advantage of the free subscriptions to Ag Mag.

“Ag Mag reinforces what teachers are already doing in the classroom,” he said. “It helps teachers integrate information about North Dakota agriculture across curriculum in science, math, language arts, social studies, and other classes.”     Read More

Having some type of “Ag Mag” available for school teachers is vitally important.  I’ve had friends whose kids have brought home material from the HSUS from school.  When these parents have questioned the teachers about why, the answer is usually the same.  It was free for them to use and they didn’t know that the HSUS is the world’s wealthiest animal rights group.  The next thing the teacher asks is if there’s something they can use that correctly teaches about farming and ranching.  That’s when we need to be able to provide them with something like the Ag Mag

Ag Teachers Needed in IL

Illinois trying to grow, keep agriculture teachers
April 21, 2009 01:36 PM MDT

SPRINGFIELD (WREX) - The state of Illinois needs agricultural teachers and now schools are getting the money to develop them.

Several universities and community colleges in the state will share nearly $350,000 from the Illinois State Board of Education to help recruit and retain future high school agriculture teachers.

"Agriculture is the backbone of industry in Illinois. Having qualified instructors specialize in this field is essential to our standing in the world marketplace," said Christopher A. Koch, State Superintendent of Education.

One of the things the money will be used for is to help students gain experience through paid internships or other career-related activities to become agriculture science teachers.

The University of Illinois, Illinois State University, Western Illinois University and Southern Illinois University as well as Black Hawk College in Kewanee, Land Lake College in Mattoon and Joliet Junior College will all get money from the grant. Link

It’s encouraging to see that the state of Illinois recognizes the importance of ag education in the schools. Never has it been more important for people to learn where their food comes from. We have an uneducated electorate that is making decisions about how their food will be produced without any regard to the consequences of their vote. If everyone had to take some ag classes, maybe we wouldn’t have the problems we do today.