Farming and Climate Change

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Climate Portal

This resource from MIT includes a 14-minute podcast on the relationship between agriculture and climate change from a NASA scientist, and additional activities that support an understanding of using maps and case-studies from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to understand agroecology concepts. Students learn about how farmers are changing land-use practices to have a less negative impact on climate change, and how climate change may alter the nutritional quality of crops.

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Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

Consider using a gallery tour activity to assess how much students agree or disagree with each others' answers for discussion questions to engage the entire class at one time. Students could be encouraged to work in groups during the research portion. Students could also be asked to nominate someone from their group at the end of class to share out what they learned from reading their case study.
In this activity, students will learn about how agriculture impacts climate change and how climate change impacts agriculture. Students will also learn about agroecology (sustainable farming). Students should have a basic understanding of the agricultural processes (crops for human and animal consumption, livestock production) in the US and the environmental factors that effect crop efficiency (disease, drought, flood, temperature) before working through this lesson.
This resource includes a visual (maps and text) and auditory (podcast) component that may be suitable for a variety of learning styles. Podcast transcripts can be printed. A wrap-up discussion is used to assess understanding and to promote student-led lessons on case studies. Reviewers of this resource recommend having students listen to the podcast as homework since it is long and difficult to keep students' attention. If done in class, have students take notes or be otherwise engaged to keep their attention. Well-organized activity with comprehensive teacher's guide.