Back to Projects | The Farmer Stand Program

Farmer in the Classroom Program:
For this, farmers give five or six thirty-minute presentations to 20-40 students at a time. Most presentations take place in a single location. Farmers share their day-to-day experiences on the farm or at farmers’ markets through words, pictures, and samples of their produce. The content of the exact presentation depends on the individual farmers’ experience and expertise, but stresses that students should eat at least five fruits and vegetables a day to be healthy. The farmer might demonstrate the process of plant growth by bringing seedlings to show the class. Others might talk about how they use bugs, owls, cats, and dogs to grow their produce without the use of pesticides. They might talk about the history of their farm, any obstacles they had to overcome as farmers, or how they became involved in farming. At the end of the presentation, the farmer passes out samples of the produce for the children to taste. Samples are the equivalent of a whole piece of fruit, fulfilling one of their required servings for the day, whether that may be made up of parts of several different fruits, or one whole fruit.

After the visits, the students are more excited about eating fresh produce because of the connection they have made between the produce and the person who actually grew it. A teacher from Catskill Elementary reported, “The children were amazed to meet a farmer and taste his crops.” Another from Basset Elementary said that it was “Great exposure for urban students.” One teacher from Canterbury Elementary wrote, “The children were actually excited to eat veggies!”