NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Farmers should do their homework before offering school tours, says a U.S. farm operator.
Sylvia Ganier, owner of the Green Door Gourmet farm near Nashville, said producers should research their local school divisions, check local and regional curricula and create age appropriate educational programs.
In an interview during the North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association conference in Tennessee Feb. 1-6, the former reading teacher said these learning components must be in place before a farm approaches schools.
“Teachers look for those operations first because they can justify it as a day in the classroom,” she said.
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“If you are willing to do their lesson for them, they are more willing to spend more time on your farm.”
Ganier’s numbers grew from 550 the first year the tours were offered to 2,777 visits that generated $22,000 last year. The farm charges less than $10 per child and keeps the group size to a maximum of 25.
She said these tours, when combined with events such as weddings, account for one-third of the farm’s revenue. Green Door hopes to double its school numbers in the future by continuing to draw on a nearby urban population of one million people.
Ganier thinks that’s possible be-cause Green Door is among the few agritourism operators offering a curriculum based educational program to schools.
Student visitors tour her greenhouse, warehouse and fields to see the steps that are taken to grow produce and sell it to consumers at the farm market.
Green Door teaches mathematical concepts such as weights and measures by allowing students to weigh potatoes and discovering how many small bags of potatoes are needed to fill a potato bin.
“If kids can’t have fun and keep their attention, they’re not going to learn,” she said. “We turn things into learning games that help with the core curriculum.”
A lesson that focuses on the life cycle of a plant allows children to help plant seeds in the greenhouse. The youngest ones plant their seeds in cups that they can take home.
“Kids like to have their hands in dirt and like to have a playful learning experience,” Ganier said.
Amy Ladd of Lucky Ladd Farms at Eagleville, Tenn., said there’s a fine balance when incorporating fun and learning.
“If they don’t know they are actually learning while they’re doing it, then it’s a successful program,” she said.
Children who visit her farm talk about the state’s wildlife during wagon rides through a treed area and get close up and hands on as they learn about the abundance of sheep, cows and horses housed in pens on the farm.
PowerPoint presentations, worksheets and activities are offered for farm activities, which are designed to support units in understanding cells, interdependence, the flow of matter and energy, heredity and biodiversity.
