Preparation: Prior to class, review the Background Information, video clip, and slide deck associated with the lesson. Review the Teacher's Guide: Getting Started document for further information to prepare for the first day of class.

Activity 1: Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture

1. Journey 2050
   • Slide 4: Play the Journey 2050 Introduction video, (3:51 min). Prepare students for the video by asking them to discover three things: 1) Why is 2050 a significant year? 2) What is the sustainability barrel? and 3) What is the ripple effect? (Background and discussion prompts are outlined in the steps below and in the slide deck notes.)
2. Why 2050?
   • Slides 5–6: Ask students, “If it is [insert current year] right now, how many years until we reach the year 2050?” Then ask, “How old will you be in the year 2050?” Explain that scientists and world leaders have identified 2050 as a key moment in time when the world’s population will be nearly 10 billion—that is more than 2 billion more than today. Point out to students that they will be adults! They will have an influence on the decisions that impact everything from what is taught in schools to what they buy at the grocery store.
   • Slide 7: Ask students to identify some of the items we will need more of in order to provide for 2 billion additional people on Earth. Brainstorm and list several items on the board. Use questioning to help students identify items such as water, homes, jobs, medicines, food, etc. Remind students of all the products they get from agriculture (food, fiber, fuel, timber, medicines and by-products that are used in manufacturing or end up in items such as lipstick, paint and batteries). Explain that farmers and many other agricultural professionals are responsible for producing each of these daily necessities.
   • Slide 8: Explain that in order to feed 2 billion additional people, it is predicted that farmers will need to produce 60 to 70 percent more food than we currently produce today on the same amount of land or even less.⁹ Ask, “Will this goal of sustainable agriculture be easy to accomplish? Will the pressure on farmers increase, decrease or stay the same?” As students are thinking and offering answers, draw their attention back to the Interest Approach at the beginning of the lesson, picturing an additional 2 billion people that agriculture must feed. Students should conclude that farmers will have increased pressure to produce more food and fiber for a growing population.
     • Before moving on, formatively assess students to ensure they understand the term sustainability.

Three Dimensional Proficiency: Crosscutting Concepts Students engage practices of science and engineering as they formulate questions that can be answered through investigation and formulate a problem that can be solved through design. Asking questions and Defining Problems: Analyze complex real-world problems by specifying criteria and constraints for successful solutions.

3. What is the sustainability barrel?
   • Slides 9–10: Tomorrow’s farmer will have to feed even more people. It is estimated that by 2050, our growing population will require the equivalent of all the food grown in the last 500 years.¹⁰ That’s a lot of food! Ask, “Do farmers have limitations to how much they can produce?” As students think about the answer to this question, give an example of a corn farmer with 100 acres. Can this farmer take their same land, soil, corn seeds, water and tractors and double their crop from one year to the next simply because there is a demand for more corn? No, there are limitations if a farmer wants to produce agricultural goods in a sustainable manner.
   • Slide 11: Ask students to picture a wooden barrel made up of several wooden slats. Explain that we are going to call it a sustainability barrel. Each wooden slat of the barrel represents a factor influencing sustainable agricultural production. Each factor can be placed into one of three challenges to sustainable agriculture—producing sustainably while maintaining economic, social and environmental systems. For example, in order to be able to grow enough food to feed the world sustainably, we have to make sure that farmers are able to earn a profit, that communities have access to education and healthcare, and that the soil stays healthy and we don’t destroy habitats.
   • Slide 12: Ask students, “What are some examples of limiting factors?” (water, available land, soil health, climate, economy, education, etc.) Ask students to explain how each factor influences our ability to produce our food. Remind students that we must continually improve the weakest part of our sustainability, whether it is education or soil health. They all impact our ability to feed the world. A community or program is only as successful as its least developed sustainability factor.
4. What is the Ripple Effect?
   • Slide 14: Ask, “Can a single drop of water impact an entire body of water?” (Yes, it creates a ripple.)
   • Slides 15–16: Use these slides to illustrate how sustainable practices in agriculture can create a positive ripple effect.

Activity 2: Sustainability Farming Game Level 1 Demo

1. Slides 17–18: Inform students that they are about to embark on a “Journey to 2050.” Inform students that they will be using a game to farm virtually in different parts of the world. Along the way they will learn more about where our food, fiber (clothing and shelter) and fuel comes from and how farmers can sustainably produce these items for a growing population.
2. Introduce the Sustainability Farming Game. Inform students that they will experience the lives of actual farm families across the world. As they interact with each family, they should pay attention to the farming practices they choose, the technology they use and the community investments they make. Remember, agriculture is the foundation for life, and its success creates ripples locally and globally that will determine whether we meet the challenge of feeding the world.
3. Write on the board a reminder of what the sustainability barrel includes:
   • Social: food, education, infrastructure, healthcare
   • Economy: profits, income, jobs, community
   • Environment: habitats, soil health, water, greenhouse gases
4. Open the Sustainability Farming Game Level 1 Demo on each student’s computer or device.
5. Explain that the sustainability barrel will determine their score, and help students understand the significance of balancing the social, economic and environmental pillars of the sustainability barrel throughout the game (e.g., investments in soil health produce better crops, earning more money; investments in roads allow products and people to travel easier, improving access to markets and labor).
6. Explain to the students that it is very important that they listen to you as they will have to stop and wait every time they finish a level. Every student must start and end the game (roughly) at the same time to ensure your class time flows smoothly.
   • Note to teacher: The first level is a demonstration of the game designed to teach students how to play. Students will be in Kenya and will play one round, which will take about five minutes. The game stops after they have completed each teaching moment (such as how to plant, water and harvest).
7. Once time is up, the game will pause on the Results page. When all students have reached the Results page, instruct them to press “continue,” and help them understand what the Ripple Effects screen shows. They will then move on to the Surplus Contribution Opportunities page. Encourage them to invest in their limiting factors (there will be a red arrow under the limiting factor). If the investment matches that factor, there will be a red arrow on the left, beside the investment name. Once their score stops going up they can press “continue” and finish with the demo level.
8. Slides 19–20: Once students have completed the game, use the following questions to help students synthesize what they have learned:
   • After growing your first crop, did you invest some of your money to purchase additional land? Why or why not?
   • What was the limiting factor in your sustainability barrel? What did this mean? (Answers will vary)
   • What were some of the ripple effects of your farming choices?

Be sure students understand that agricultural sustainability is more than a local effort. Benefits and challenges may vary from country to country due to factors such as their economy, climate, and population growth, but overall sustainability is a global effort.