Food Questions to Classroom Lessons - Influencing Iowa's Ag Literacy

September 8, 2026

How can we help consumers better understand agriculture? Sometimes it starts with a question about food, other times, it starts with a lesson in a classroom.

At the Iowa State Fair, Lydia Zerby of the Iowa Food & Family Project shares how the organization creates opportunities for consumers to connect with farmers, ask questions and learn more about how food is grown and raised. We then meet Kelly Foss of the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation, who takes us into Iowa schools, where teachers are using agriculture to bring subjects like science, math and social studies to life for students. 

Together, these conversations show that agricultural education doesn’t happen in just one place or at one age. Ag literacy grows when people have meaningful ways to connect what they eat, learn and experience every day back to the farm.

This episode of The Bean Scene is brought to you by the Iowa Soybean Association and the soybean checkoff.

 

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