Before you dive into today’s activities, watch these videos to learn about sustainable farming. Learn how researchers and innovators are making farming super-efficient in the cities and countryside using everything from bugs to robots to keep us well-fed and healthy:

Watch 1: The Story of Agriculture and the Green Economy (Farming First)
Watch 2: This Vertical Farm Uses No Soil and 95% Less Water (Aerofarms)
Watch 3: What Is The Future of Farming? (Nature.com)
Watch 4: The Futuristic Farms That Will Feed the World (FreeThink)

LEARN + INTERACT

Dress the part. Farmers always need to get ready before they head out to work on the farm so make sure you’re dressed for the part before you get started too! See if you can make your own farmer’s hat out of materials lying around your house. Click here to download all you need to make your own hat using our #EarthSchool inspired design! (for ages 5-8)

Make a list of the foods in your fridge and pantry that look like they may have come straight from a farmer’s fields. Now see if you can find a farm near your house that sells these items and write down how far away the farm is from your home. What do you think about the distance that your food has to travel to make it to your plate? How important do you think buying local ingredients is in ensuring you and your family are doing your part to support sustainable agriculture?  Use this activity sheet to write down what you find! (for ages 5-12)

Reflect on sustainable agriculture in your life. The videos you watched earlier had so many interesting facts about the how, what, where, when, and why of sustainable farming. Use this activity sheet to note anything new you learned about sustainable farming, what questions you have, and what comes to mind when you think on why sustainable farming matters to you. (for all ages)

ACT + SHARE

Design a comic book inspired by today’s introduction video. Check out the short stories Farmer Charlie and The Chicken Chasers and Farmer Charlie and His Crazy Chickens! (written by students just like you!). Now it’s your turn! Click here to design your own comic and create an adventure for Farmer Charlie and his chickens. Don’t forget to share your comic with your family and friends, and post it on social media using #EarthSchool and #FarmQuest! (Pssst: Want to learn how to draw super cool speech bubbles? Check out this awesome video here.) (for ages 5-15)

Grow your own food. Community Supported Agriculture is an approach to growing and sharing food that connects the people who eat the food (you and me) directly to the people that grow it. Want to see what it takes to grow your own food? To get started, learn how to grow your own food from the scraps of what you eat. Then, explore what you can grow from pantry staples like legumes, seeds, nuts, and beans. When your crop is ready to eat be sure to make a delicious meal with it and invite your family to share it with you! How can you make this meal sustainable too? Do you think you can use the scraps or the seeds leftover from this meal to produce your next crop? (for all ages)

WANT MORE?

Watch: Learn why soil is so important to sustainable crop production in the TEDx Talk, Stop Treating Our Soil Like Dirt! (for ages 9+)

Join Earth Protector Communities for resources on how to protect nature with every bite you take. (for ages 10+)

This Earth School Quest was created by the following incredible educators and environmental experts: Kathryn Sforcina, Andy Middleton and Jessie Oliver. We’d also like to thank Jasmine Middleton for the graphic design and artwork for all the beautifully designed activity sheets used in this Quest!