If you ate food, wore clothes or wrote on a piece of paper today you can thank a farmer or a rancher! Yes, that’s right! Farmers, who mainly grow crops of plants and raise dairy cows, and ranchers, who raise and care for animals that provide us with food, not only grow your food but they also provide other items that you use every day. Growing plants and animals into things we use is called AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture is made up of the Five F’s:
Food: Farmers grow many types of food. Their fields produce blueberries, watermelons and tomatoes in the summer followed by pumpkins and broccoli in the fall. They may raise dairy cows that give us milk to drink and ice cream for dessert. Take a tour with this 10-year-old Dairy farmer. Ranchers raise many types of livestock including cattle to provide hamburger for our dinner and a byproduct using the cattle skins, called leather, for shoes and bags.
Fiber: When you woke up this morning you might have been wearing pajamas or a t-shirt to sleep in and used sheets or blankets on your bed. Our clothing and bedding come from fibers from plants like cotton or from animals like sheep that have wool we spin into fiber. Learn about sheep and wool in this exciting video! Even some rabbits, a breed called Angora, have super soft fur that is used for fiber production and used in some clothing.
Flowers: Growing and selling greenhouse and nursery plants is one of the fastest growing agriculture careers. These farmers grow the flowers we use for special occasions like birthdays and holidays. For a look inside a greenhouse to see plants growing watch this video. They also grow the shrubs and trees we see around houses and offices as well as the house plants we use to decorate inside our homes.
Forests: Trees from forests make everything from the paper we write on, to the pencils we write with to the wooden chair we sit in when we are writing. Tree farmers plant, nurture and harvest these trees to make our neighborhoods beautiful. Trees provide shade for our homes, schools and parks. paper products, books, furniture, flooring and building materials. We often forget that trees not only help keep our air clean but we use them to make over 5000 products we use every day. Watch this video to learn how farmers help to care for and protect this natural resource.
Fuel: You might not realize that farms provide us with a lot of energy too! Find out more about biofuels from plants in this video. Cow manure can be made into fuel that can heat or cool buildings. Corn can be made into ethanol to fuel cars, trucks and tractors. Corn and soybeans are being used as an option that is healthier for the environment in place of some petroleum-based products like plastics, adhesives and inks.
Have some fun learning more about agriculture with these fun free My American Farm games on your computer or your phone.
Watch this video Food and Farm Facts 2021 - Modern Farming to meet a 16-year-old female farmer and learn about why the future is bright for the next generation of farmers.
