Employees from two different Monsanto sites recommended the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation to receive grants from the Monsanto Fund’s 2018 site grant initiative. The Monsanto-Ankeny site awarded $4,000 and the Monsanto-Independence site awarded $5,000. Funds from the grant will be used to support the teacher professional development efforts in and around the Ankeny and Independence areas.

 

 

“Teachers can easily use agriculture to teach core concepts and align to new science and social studies educational standards,” said Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation executive director Will Fett.  “We want to show teachers hands-on lesson and activities they can use with their students. This grant will allow conduct more workshops for teachers and give them a level of comfort to include agriculture into their classroom curriculum.”

 

 

“Agriculture is the foundation of our company and seeing teachers understand the science of modern agriculture is very exciting,” said Jeff Woessner, site lead at Monsanto-Ankeny. “We’re happy to support the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation with this Monsanto Fund grant.”

 

 

Most Americans are three to four generations removed from the farm. The workshops typically include one day of site visits to local farms and agribusinesses. The tours also include one day of classroom work learning how to apply concepts and align to standards. The workshops offer graduate level credit and/or license renewal credit for teachers to meet their continuing education requirements.

 

 

“Educators are play a vital role in teacher students about science and STEM career options,” said Andy Frey, site lead at Monsanto-Independence. “Modern agriculture is the application of science, technology, engineering and math concepts.”

 

 

This year, the Monsanto Fund awarded more than $1.4 million to nonprofit organizations in rural communities to help address essential needs in Food & Nutrition, STEM Education, and Community Development. Nonprofit organizations across the U.S. have received more than $7.5 million through this program over the last five years.

 

 

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About the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation
IALF serves as a central resource for educators and volunteers who want to teach Iowa’s students about agriculture. The mission is to educate Iowans, with a focus on youth, regarding the breadth and global significance of agriculture. Iowa is a leading producer of agricultural products that are essential to feed a growing world population, estimated to reach more than 9 billion by 2050. IALF believes it is important for all Iowans to understand the essential role agriculture has in their lives. IALF will support existing agriculture education efforts such as FFA, 4-H and Ag in the Classroom. IALF was created through a joint effort of agricultural stakeholders, including the Iowa Corn Growers Association, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Iowa Pork Producers Association, Iowa Soybean Association, Silos and Smokestacks Foundation, DuPont Pioneer, GROWMARK, and the Iowa Beef Industry Council. For more information visit IALF online at IowaAgLiteracy.org, on Facebook, and Twitter.

 

 

Source:
Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation

 

 

Contact:
Will Fett, Executive Director
Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation
WFett@IowaAgLiteracy.org
515-331-4182

 

 

Publish Date:
2/21/2018