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New Mexico State University

Hot Stuff, Spring 1998

[Caldwell: Moo-Town] Turning agriculture into a class act

Teacher Helen Casarez Smith uses a hot topic to teach math at Mesilla Park Elementary School. Students bring chile to class, measure it and graph the dimensions on a computer. In science, they conduct experiments on pepper pungency.

Smith started using agriculture in her lessons years ago while teaching at Fairacres Elementary School. It's teachers like Smith who benefit from agricultural resources and workshops, says Jennifer Hopper, Agriculture in the Classroom director for the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau. Hopper received both bachelor's and master's degrees from NMSU's College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.

"We don't ask teachers to teach agriculture. We ask them to implement it in what they do each day," Hopper says. "Children learn about agriculture through English, math, science, history and other subjects. They find out where their food and clothing come from and learn to appreciate the farm and ranch community."

Agriculture in the Classroom gets support from the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, NMSU's Cooperative Extension Service and the New Mexico Beef Council. It provides educators with materials about agriculture to use in classes.

Summer workshops, offered through NMSU's agricultural and extension education department, increase teachers' knowledge of agriculture and provide continuing education credit. Teachers, in turn, write lesson plans for kids in kindergarten through 12th grade.

"I've developed a resource library for children and adults with curriculum and videos on such topics as how milk is tied into nutrition," Hopper says. "Books in the library tell stories about cowboys, science, gardening and other activities. Resources also include hands-on materials such as the crop identification or cotton kits."

Kids sometimes have to get their hands dirty to learn more about agriculture in Smith's class.

"We got into soils to find out what type is best for growing plants in the Mesilla Valley," Smith says. "Kids used their hands to examine different soils. They felt it for softness and hardness. Some of the soil actually had bugs and plant seeds in it, which was good because that meant it was fertile and could give life."

Smith says she'd like to take her second graders through the whole agricultural process.

"I would like to have my class plant chile in the spring and watch it grow," she says. "Then my incoming fall class could harvest it. The students could sell the produce and give the money to the homeless or decide what they want to do with it to help our community. This would be a good way to teach kids that we're all responsible for the land and each other."


[Pecos Chile Poster] Agriculture is elementary

Grinding corn for tortillas, making bread from wheat and churning cream into butter are just a few ways children learn through Agriculture Awareness--a program started by the Mesilla Valley Cow-Belles in 1990.

"One of my concerns was that my kids were bringing home inaccurate information about agriculture," says Johnette Fowler, Agriculture Awareness state chair and a graduate of NMSU's agricultural economics and agricultural business department.

"We started a two-week program where we bring guest speakers to an elementary school to talk about wildlife, forestry, soil and water conservation--anything related to agriculture," she says.

Students and teachers learn about the origins of food and fiber, the effect agriculture has on their lives and communities, and the relationship between responsible farm management and the environment.

"Kids are able to see a raw product become something that they use every day or something that affects them," she says. "They see how corn is ground on one day and how cotton is woven on another."

At the end of the two weeks, kids experience farm life first hand, Fowler says. The school playground is transformed into a miniature ranch where children can go on hayrides, pet animals, see farm equipment and have cookouts.

"Agriculture Awareness also emphasizes how agriculture affects the economy and the revenue it brings into the state," she says. "One area where we do the most good is with teachers. Even those who have misconceptions about agriculture will come to forestry, wildlife and soil and water conservation workshops. They walk away realizing that agriculture is important in their lives."

Teachers receive packets with lesson plans and have access to an extensive agricultural resource guide compiled by Mesilla Valley Cow-Belles and donated to every elementary school in the state.

The program is sponsored by NMSU's College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, various crop associations and other agricultural groups.


Tracking rural tourists

Visitors to New Mexico's festivals, tours and special events probably don't stop to think about how they contribute to rural tourism. They're too busy sampling the food at the Chile-Cheese Festival in Roswell or scoping out thousands of birds at the Festival of the Cranes near Socorro.

Festival organizers, however, need to know about their visitors--where they come from, which activities they liked, how long they stayed and how much money they spent in the community--to keep the people and dollars coming.

With a hand from NMSU's Rural Economic Development Through Tourism (REDTT) project, communities can learn more about festival-goers. REDTT staff can be found at many of the events statewide, giving out short questionnaires. They also design more detailed mail surveys, analyze results and train community leaders to do their own tourism research.

"Our tourism surveys are basically designed to collect customer service information about what people think of the festivals and what they would like to see added," says Karen Watson, REDTT coordinator. "We also collect demographic and marketing data."

Festival feedback not only can help organizers fine-tune activities but also bring in financial support.

"Communities need proof that events are having an economic impact so that they can go before lodgers' tax boards to request a share of local money," Watson says.

Demographic information can strengthen proposals to corporate sponsors. "For example, soft drink companies might be interested in sponsoring events that reach a family audience," she says.

Each event draws different audiences, Watson says. From surveys, organizers of Roswell's Chile-Cheese Festival know the event has a mostly regional audience, attracting lots of families. Senior citizens enjoy the bus tours.

The educational focus at Festival of the Cranes near Socorro brings in two distinct groups: families from the region and serious bird-watchers from as far away as Alaska and New York.

Whatever the attraction, listening to visitors is essential, "Organizers need to know what's working and what needs to be refreshed or updated," Watson says.