By Annelise Hanshaw
After the state's education department oversaw a pilot program teaching science through agriculture, lawmakers saw an opportunity for more.
Missouri public school students could see more agriculture-based science lessons starting in kindergarten through high school under bills prefiled in both state legislative chambers that would establish a new statewide program.
Lawmakers in the state’s more populous cities filed the bills, hoping agriculture education can benefit students in both urban and rural areas.
“I am a proponent of continuing to have (agriculture education) … and not just in our rural schools but to have this everywhere so that our kids are exposed to agriculture as a science,” state Sen. Barbara Washington, a Democrat from Kansas City, told The Independent.
She filed the bill for the second year in a row, inspired by personal experiences eating homegrown food and visiting Kansas City schools that incorporate agriculture into education.
The legislation uses an existing statute, which established a pilot program for agriculture education in 2020, to make way for a permanent program that can be rolled out statewide.
The pilot ran from 2020 to 2023, starting with 44 teachers in third through fifth grades participating. When it ended, only 20 teachers were participating. The COVID-19 pandemic put stress on the program, according to the program’s final report, and teachers had mixed feelings about the curriculum.
In periodic surveys, educators said they didn’t have enough time to complete the lessons in their entirety but said the hands-on activities kept students engaged. While the pilot program set the framework for the bill, the legislation would not lock in the same program curriculum or format. It would also be voluntary.
State Rep. John Martin, a Republican from Columbia, said he sees opportunities for the state to partner with Missouri Farmers Care. The nonprofit, which advocates for expanded agriculture opportunities, has a program called Agriculture Education on the Move, which is currently in some of the state’s public schools.
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