Agricultural Education Course of Study

Agricultural Education provides students with the opportunity to participate in an integrated educational model that focuses students on careers, as well as the science and technology of managing and utilizing resources to provide all agricultural commodities and products to support the demands of growing world population. Agricultural education strives to provide students with a foundation for careers in all aspects of the agricultural industry, whether it is production, financing, processing, marketing, or distribution of agriculture products, or the vast network of supporting careers that provide the supplies and services as well as the management and conservation of our natural resource systems. In consideration of the many facets of agriculture, the mission of the Soil of Prosperity Farm agricultural education program is very comprehensive.

Agricultural Education is committed to equipping young people with the skills they need to be competitive in the 21st century. Whether those skills involve the technological knowledge required to perform career tasks or the people and personal skills necessary to perform both in a career and the community, agricultural education is committed to educating and developing future leaders.

The continued collaboration with specialists from University of Florida enables agricultural education to maintain cutting edge philosophy in the various agricultural disciplines.

The program is designed to develop technical, leadership, and management expertise needed by secondary school students to continue their education and to succeed in the industry.

Agricultural education has traditionally been a year-long discipline that includes integral components that function beyond the classroom. Supervised agricultural experiences provide students with fundamental values necessary to succeed in a multitude of career options within the agricultural industry.

Description

Today, many definitions exist for the term "agriculture." In its vision, agricultural education in Florida employs the phrase "food, fiber and environmental systems" to describe a very broad field, best defined by the National Research Council as, "A field that encompasses the production of agricultural commodities, including food, fiber, wood products, horticulture crops, and other plant and animal products. The terms also include financing, processing, marketing and distribution of agricultural products; farm production supply and service industries; health, nutrition and food consumption; the use and conservation of land and water resources; development and maintenance of recreational resources; and related economic, sociological, political, environmental and cultural characteristics of the food and fiber system." This new phrase was chosen in an effort to be inclusive of and to harness the potential of the total agricultural community. With this in mind, the mission of the Soil of Prosperity Farm agricultural education program is to prepare students for success in the food, fiber and environmental systems.

Agricultural Education provides students with the opportunity to participate in an integrated educational model that focuses students on careers in the food, fiber and environmental systems. The program is designed to develop technical, leadership and management expertise needed by secondary school students for success in the industry.

Design

The agricultural education program is built on the two core areas of classroom/laboratory instruction and supervised agricultural experience programs. The program is designed for delivery through these three components as follows:

• Classroom/Laboratory Instruction – quality instruction in and about agriculture that utilizes a "learning by doing" philosophy.
• Supervised Agricultural Experience Programs – all students are expected to have an agriculturally related work-based learning experience while participating in agricultural education courses.

This quality agricultural education program has a balanced utilization of these two core components. These components are best carried out when the following strategies are employed:

• Community-Based Planning – involvement of the local farming community administration and community in the planning and coordination of the program is essential to success.
• Professional Development – agriculture teachers/students take advantage of opportunities for professional development and growth.
• Partnerships – the development of alliances with community and business leaders is essential for program success.
• Marketing – every agricultural education program needs a successful marketing strategy in place to attract and retain students and the support of the community that is being served.

When these components and strategies are in place, program success will occur.