What is a Farmer?
Teaching children about agriculture should be more prominent in today's society.
What is a farmer?
Well, I guess that sort of depends on who you ask… If you ask Google, it defines ‘farmer’ as the following -
Farmer. Noun. “A farmer is an individual who cultivates land, raises crops, or manages livestock and fish for human use, often for profit. They are essentially operators of agricultural businesses, covering roles from field cultivation to farm management, including owners, tenants, and those raising agricultural commodities.”
Merriam-Webster defines it:
farmer
farm·er ˈfär-mər
1
: a person who pays a fixed sum for some privilege or source of income
2
: a person who cultivates land or crops or raises animals (such as livestock or fish)
So based on these two definitions, we come to the conclusion that a farmer works with livestock and animals… But does everyone see farmers in the same light?
My day job is a preschool teacher, and I’ve decided to see what they have to say on the matter…
What is a farmer?
“He has a cowboy hat!”
“Moooooo!”
“They have chickens.”
“Farmers have cows.”
“A farmer feeds horses, cows, and dogs!”
“I don’t know.”
While they seem to understand, it's very storybook and cute! Children in this classroom love farms and talking about them because I integrate lots of lesson plans on our farm topics. For example, if we are learning about recycling, I teach them about how a clean Earth helps provide what we need, like trees to breathe and have clean air, and recycle plastics to clean the ground so we can plant crops.
It’s vital we start in the classroom when they’re young because that early understanding helps mold their young brains to think of the whole cycle of food or animals or whatever it is, instead of just thinking that the sandwich appeared in front of them. Instead, they’ll understand bread comes from wheat, ham from a pig, tomato from a field or garden — all of this stretching their thought process. Or if they see a mango for the first time, instead of thinking it’s something just used in juice, they’ll want to learn where it comes from, how it grows, etc. Impacting their now impacts their future. One day maybe they’ll want to push forward in the industry and become apart of it, farming or industry or grocery work. It takes more than what we have today to provide for the future, so the more minds we have, the better agriculture will be.
So what is a farmer?
A farmer does use the land for his crops and tends to his animals, but a farmer advocates for learning success in early classrooms and has a passion to pass on their knowledge to a younger, older, or same generation. To be a farmer means you need to be a voice. How can we grow and expand our reach. Land is running out and it’s only a matter of time before it catches up to us. Older generation farmers are dying. Kids aren’t caring about their food source.
Be a farmer.
Use your voice.