Here's to another AGmazing year in the classroom! Through education, New Mexico Ag in the Classroom (NMAITC) strives to foster in students an appreciation of our farmers and ranchers and an understanding of the importance agriculture and natural resources play in our everyday lives. 

The NMAITC program is instrumental in continuing to create educated consumers and voters on which the future of our great nation depends.

Thank you for your interest in NMAITC, check out our resources, and please contact us for more information and current events.
The application for the CHS Foundation Classroom Grant is now available. Prekindergarten - 12th-grade teachers with agriculture-related project concepts to teach reading, writing, math, science, social studies, and more. Eligible projects include classroom and schoolyard gardens, embryology projects, aquaculture projects, and agricultural literacy reading programs to name a few. 

The CHS Foundation and National Agriculture in the Classroom Organization (NAITCO) partner each year to offer this grant opportunity. Teachers with projects that can be conducted virtually are welcome to apply, as well.

Application Deadline: Sept. 15
Fifteen $500 grants will be awarded.
Would you like to have an educational visit from New Mexico Ag in the Classroom? (In-person or virtual)

  • We offer a variety of topics with great connections to STEM, ag-specific topics, and ag career exploration.
  • Our current Ag Literacy Project, The Great Pumpkin Smash will provide your classroom with a book, pumpkin and composting facts, a hands-on approach to Engineering and Physics concepts, and a list of additional resources and follow-up activities.

Recommended books – there are more than Feeding Minds Press books out there that we love! We recently updated our recommended publications list.
*Books and educator guides (k-12th)

New resource available: 360 look at a beehive – students can “interact” with information in this 360 up-close look at bees! Best viewed in Chrome.
Discover Dairy is an engaging, interactive, cross-curricular educational series that meets Common CORE Standards for Math, Science and Reading. This lesson series shows upper elementary and middle school students where milk comes from and how dairy farmers contribute to our world. Discover Dairy is a resource provided at no cost to educators and others who are interested in teaching students about the dairy industry.

How about adopting a 100-pound dairy calf for your classroom mascot by joining the Adopt A Cow program? Don’t worry about finding a pen big enough to hold her. The photos and stories we’ll send you about her life on the farm will make her “come alive” for your students! The best part? It is FREE!

Register soon!
Throughout the program, you’ll find out what her name is, when her birthday is, where she lives and how the farmer takes care of her. We’ll also send photos of the cow, activity sheets for the students, a PowerPoint full of information and photos, and a suggested lesson that follows Common CORE standards and Next Generation Science Standards through email and the Adopt A Cow portal.
National Agriculture in the Classroom is seeking workshop proposals for the 2023 NAITC Conference 'Beyond The Beaches’ scheduled for June 27-June 30 in Orlando, Florida.
 
Proposals must demonstrate how the workshop uses agricultural concepts to meet the National Agricultural Literacy Outcomes (NALOs) and teach reading, writing, math, nutrition, science, STEM, social studies, and other subject areas. Proposals must reach elementary (grades Pre-K-5), middle school (grades 6-8), high school (9-12), or all grades.
Workshop style options;
  • Full workshops will last one hour, or
  • 3 Mini workshops will last 20 minutes.
Submission Deadline: October 7th
NEW for 2023! Attend the National Ag in the Classroom Conference in Orlando, FL, next year, with the help of the White-Reinhardt scholarships that are now for $1,500 plus registration costs. Due to rising travel costs, we want to ensure educators can attend this valuable conference.

 
This scholarship program is to provide travel expense funds to attend the National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference and then use the information gained to expand their outreach to students regarding food, fiber, and fuel.
 
The White-Reinhardt Fund for Education is a special project of the Foundation in cooperation with the AFB Women’s Leadership Committee. It was established to honor two former chairs of that committee, Berta White and Linda Reinhardt, who were leaders in the national effort to improve agricultural literacy.

Take a look at the previous year's conference highlights so you can get inspired and sign up.

Application Deadline: Nov. 1st

Journey 2050 is a free, online program on world food sustainability that includes a virtual simulation game.

Designed for grades 7-12, the game created by Nutrien, Ltd., provides students with an opportunity to consider the question: “How will we sustainably feed nearly 10 billion people by the year 2050?”

Journey 2050 middle school and high school lessons and eLearning modules are available, meet Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and are designed for use in the classroom or online.

World Population & Arable Land

"You can now visit a dairy farm from the comfort of your phone or computer with Dairy MAX’s 360-degree Virtual Farm Experience, this 360-degree video will help get consumers closer to being on the dairy farm.

The virtual farm experience allows all ages to gain first-hand knowledge of life on a dairy farm. This experience was created to connect people who didn’t grow up on a farm or are unable to visit a dairy farm near them with the opportunity to learn firsthand how dairy farmers care for their animals and the environment..."
If you missed the Google Rural Educator Summit and want to watch it on demand they can!

The Rural Educators Digital Skills Summit brings together middle and high school educators from across the U.S. to learn how to use digital skills training to unlock opportunities for students in rural and agricultural communities. Educators will receive hands-on training on free digital skills and career readiness resources that help students learn the practical digital skills needed for the classroom, and for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

You can also still apply to be a Foundation Fellow until Sept 8th.

The fellowship is an 8-month opportunity for select educators to help create place-based lessons that incorporate agriculture, technology, and key digital skills into an Applied Digital Skills lesson. Fellows will also serve as program ambassadors and provide training for other educators and external stakeholders in their communities.
Students can help conserve natural resources locally and protect local ecosystems by addressing current and historical problems associated with the erosion of topsoil that limits the ability to grow food. After thoughtful research to evaluate how these challenges exist globally and locally, students will design, test, and demonstrate a solution that reduces topsoil erosion for their unique location or situation to help conserve productive soil. The final product will be a model which demonstrates a measurable reduction in soil erosion.