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The choices that we make when it comes to our food selection plays an important role in our environment. Often times people do not consider how the food that they are eating got to their table. This unit overviews the importance of understanding food production.

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Why is it important to know about the food production system?

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Why is it important to know about the food production system?

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Students should learn about food production because they will have to deal with the consequences of ignoring issues with food production. Such as global warming, and animal rights violations. Most adults have already made their choices in life when it comes to deciding what kind of diet that they want but when my students get older they are going to have to make their own choice of what to eat.

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Economic, Environmental, and Social impacts of the food production system

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Economic, Environmental, and Social impacts of the food production system

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Economic: The food production cycle impacts the economy in different ways. Corporate farms provide jobs but at the expense of the local farmer and the environment.
Environmental: Farming is one of the major issues connected to deforestation because of overgrazing by cattle and clearing forests to keep up with the demand of a growing world population. Food production is also responsible for many greenhouse gasses by way of transportation.
Social: The social dimension works closely with the economic dimension because peoples livelihood may be at stake due to restrictions on clearing forests. At the same time depending on where the location of the farm is clearing forests can encroach on indigenous peoples lands.

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This five day unit will teach students about the food production cycle and how to apply futures thinking. Students will reflect and discuss the basics of the food production system and how they impact the environment.

Day 1: Introduction
Day 2: Production
Day 3: Processing
Day 4: Distribution
Day 5: Reflection

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Standard: PO 1. Formulate a relevant question through observations that can be tested by an investigation. (See M05-S2C1-01)
PO 2. Choose an appropriate graphic representation for collected data
Goals: Students will be able to formulate questions while getting an introduction to the food production system.
Students will be able to construct a bubble map to organize their thoughts and make connections to the food production system.

On day one students will become familiar with the steps of the food production system. First as a class the book How Did That Get In My Lunchbox? will be read and discussed with the class. Students will then make a bubble map linking the different steps of the food production system. Students will then make a hypothesis about what food system dynamics impact our environment.

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Standard:  PO 2. Plan a simple investigation that identifies the variables to be controlled.
Goals: Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of how the different kinds of farms impact the environment on different scales.
Students will use both values and futures thinking to reflect on the pros and cons of food production and sustainability.

On day two students will learn about production in the food production system. The class will learn about farms, talk about some of their favorite foods, demonstrating that different farms grow different foods. Students will watch this video https://youtu.be/pk1d7vBBvnE so that they can be introduced to sustainability on farms. A field trip to a farm would be beneficial for students. Students will make a list of all the materials needed to make a farm prosper. As a class we will read the book That's Why We Don't Eat Animals: A Book About Vegans, Vegetarians, and All Living Things by Ruby Roth. Students will then reflect on the pros and cons of production by discussing with a partner and sharing an idea with the class.

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Standard: PO 2. Analyze whether the data is consistent with the proposed explanation that motivated the investigation.
Goal: Students will be able to investigate whether their favorite foods are processed or not by making an anchor chart.
Students will be able to complete the quiz online with a 70% satisfaction rate.

On day three students will go on the website http://tiki.oneworld.org/food/food5.html This website gives students access to examples of food that is processed and food that is not. The class will make an anchor chart of the food that is or is not processed and complete a quiz on this website and that will be used as an exit ticket.

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Standard:  PO 2. Propose a solution, resource, or product that addresses a specific human, animal, or habitat need.
Goal: Students will be able to compare and contrast local and corporate farms, focused on distribution and how that impacts the environment.
Students will demonstrate their understanding of how multiple factors can effect an environment in a system.

On day four students will learn about the distribution of food and why that is important. Students will learn about local farms and how they distribute vs. corporate farms. Students will relate this to sustainability and come up with their own solution to limiting green house gases. Students will write two solutions to limiting green house gasses and turn it in as an exit ticket.

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Standard:  PO 3. Evaluate the reasonableness of the outcome of an investigation.
Goal: Students will be able to identify personal goals taking into account the food production and sustainability after learning the previous lessons on previous days.
Students will be able to reflect on futures and values thinking and complete three goals.

On day five students will reflect on the information that they have learned. They will write a reflection paper and identify three goals that they can accomplish in their lifetime to support sustainability. The goals will be one starting today, one that they can work towards and one that they will commit to as an adult. Students can also give their opinions and solutions in this reflection.

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http://www.sustainabletable.org/5162/teaching-and-educator-resources

This resource teaches students and teachers why it is important to learn about food production and sustainability. This site also gives teacher an insight on curriculum that promote sustainability and teaching materials.

https://food.unl.edu/teaching-activities-and-resources

This resource is about healthy eating. This is relevant to every students lives and promotes futures thinking because in the future they will be making the decision on what kinds of foods to buy and what types of food production systems to support.

https://www.wri.org/our-work/topics/food

This resource will help students to understand systems thinking because it explains how the population plays a major role in sustainability. This article also explains to students how solutions can be made to promote sustainability. Such as a climate smart environment.

http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/12/global-food-challenge-explained-18-graphics

This resource explains the global challenges of food production in photos. This allows for students to get a visual of the problems that we face. Images also allow for students to formulate their own thoughts and feelings, which can help with futures and values thinking.

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/food-systems-southeast-asia/1/steps/109208

This is a website that can be used to help both the teacher and students understand that sustainability is a world problem. This site focuses on renewable, non-renewable and natural resources.

Vegan is Love: Having Heart and Taking Action by Ruby Roth: https://books.google.com/books/about/Vegan_is_Love.html?id=g5Z3oLAwpxwC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false

This is a children’s book explaining why veganism is a good life choice. The book goes into how choosing not to buy clothes made from animals, eat meat or buy materials that were tested on animals can impact the planet. This is a good book for children to understand the problem and goes into a few reasons that students might not think has to do with veganism.

That's Why We Don't Eat Animals: A Book About Vegans, Vegetarians, and All Living Things by Ruby Roth:

https://www.amazon.com/Thats-Why-Dont-Eat-Animals/dp/1556437854/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=F76R79WAPF1G8PVEX16P

This is another book that explains to young students why it is good to be a vegan. This book focuses on animal rights and gives students facts about the animals and how they are treated by factory farms. This can teach students the harsh truths of factory farming and how their lifestyle choices will impact animals.

"How Did That Get in My Lunchbox?" Book by Chris Butterworth. Read by Ashley Weingart @ www.forestcityweingart.com and www.perfectlyimperfectproduce.com

This is a book about the food production cycle. Unlike the other books this is not a doom and gloom book but can help students understand systems thinking in a very basic way.

http://www.nourishinteractive.com/nutrition-education-printables/160-farms-to-tables-for-kids-fruits-vegetables-kids-farming-fun-healthy-foods-learning-coloring-activity-page-printable

This is a website that teachers can use to find worksheets for their students. There are worksheets that have students put food production steps in order, etc.

Popular Mechanics for Kids Season 1 Ep 13 "Food Production"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBg6kchrGgk

This is a tv show that has an episode where students go visit the sites of different food production steps. This will give students a visual representation of food production.