To Farm or Not to Farm

• This lesson plan has students take on the role of a farmer to decide if they should plant their crops when given differing weather conditions and economic situations.
• Students will learn about the impacts of drought, crop insurance, local economic impacts, and other factors affecting farming decisions. 

Positives

• This lesson includes an engaging activity that will spark conversations. 
• Students will learn about how drought can impact a farm and what decisions farmers can make to lessen those impacts.
• Teachers can use this student-facing presentation to give students visual support during the lesson.

Additional Prerequisites

• In order to complete this activity, you will need a container, different colored markers, tokens, and playing cards. 
  

Differentiation

• This lesson would work well in science or economics classes, but cross-curricular connections can also be made in health classes that are discussing the origins of healthy foods. 
• Before starting this lesson, have students jot down or share what they know about farms, drought, and index insurance. After playing, revisit this conversation to talk about how their understanding changed.
• Social studies classes can discuss how farmers in other countries may have to make different decisions if they do not have insurance available.
• Have students think about how climate change may make insurance unavailable for everyone if extreme weather events occur more frequently.
  

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.