AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY

DESCRIPTION

Today, many definitions exist for the term "agriculture." In its vision, agricultural education in North Carolina 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 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 three core areas of classroom/laboratory instruction, supervised agricultural experience programs and FFA student organization activities/opportunities. 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 enrolled in agricultural education courses.
• FFA Student Organization activities/opportunities – FFA activities are an integral part of the agricultural education program that all agricultural education students should participate in if they are to fully benefit from their enrollment in the program.

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

• Community-Based Planning – involvement of the school administration and community in the planning and coordination of the program is essential to success.
• Professional Development – agriculture teachers 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.