Ag in the Classroom in Calhoun County recently used the children’s book “Right This Very Minute: A Table-to-Farm Book About Food and Farming” to teach students how food gets from farm to table. This lesson offers a fun, fast-paced introduction to the farms and farmers who grow the food we eat every day.

Kalene Berte, tri-county AITC coordinator for Farm Bureau, presented “Right This Very Minute” by Lisl Detlefsen to first-grade students at South Central Calhoun Elementary School in Rockwell City and first-grade students at Manson Northwest Webster Elementary School in Barnum.

This educational book follows families from their breakfast table to a picnic lunch and evening dinner with dessert. Students gain a better understanding about the number of farmers it takes to produce various meals throughout the day. Several different types of farms are featured in the book, including a citrus grower testing oranges for ripeness, a wheat farmer planting seeds, a family-owned “u-pick” strawberry business, and many more examples of agriculture in action.

Students learned interesting facts about each food item in the book, as well as states that are top producers of these foods. Students also received a cartoon drawing of the different types of farmers.

“Amy Wessel of Gilmore City provided these cartoon drawings,” Berte said. “They greatly contributed to the fun and educational value of the AITC lesson.”

At the end of the book, the class discovered that it took 24 types of farmers to supply the many different foods we enjoy in just one day.

The program concluded with a snack of cheddar whale crackers. Before savoring the treat, students had to determine from the label how many different farmers it took to make the crackers. The kids were surprised to learn it takes 11 different types of farmers to supply the ingredients to make the cheddar crackers.