Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: What is the difference between diversity and biodiversity?

20 minutes

Find Out: Different farming practices - crop rotation, intercropping, polyculture and Charles Massey

20 minutes

Take Action: The importance of diversity and biodiversity

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune In: What is the difference between diversity and biodiversity?

Step 1

Distribute one copy of the Student Worksheet to each student.

Then share the following two images with students (also available on the Student Worksheet), and as a class, invite them to complete a See-Think-Wonder about these images. Record keywords on the board.

What do you see in these images? How are they similar? How are they different?
What do these images make you think about?
What do these images make you wonder?

Step 2

Now watch the following video and invite students to take note of any keywords that are unfamiliar so that they can be clarified at the end:

Regenerative Agriculture – Maximising Crop Diversity (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_ATUB8XmXA)

Step 3

Now return to the two images you looked at earlier and reconsider the keywords that were initially proposed - would students change any of these words now?

Explain to students that the image on the left represents a monoculture. A monoculture is a system of farming that grows only one type of food across a large area. The image on the left represents a farm practising intercropping, where two or more crops are grown in proximity to each other.

Step 4

Explain to students that ‘Grow a diverse range of crops’ is one of the principles of regenerative agriculture (where students haven’t completed other lessons in this unit and are unfamiliar with this term, you could share this factsheet with them).

Take a moment to clarify the term ‘diversity’. Merriam-Webster defines it as ‘the condition of having or being composed of differing elements’.

Invite students to suggest how they think this ‘diversity’ might be applied to agriculture.

Step 5

Now pose the question:

what is biodiversity?

Invite students to come up with a definition for the term ‘biodiversity’ by breaking the words up into parts: ‘bio’ (biological) and diversity (the condition of having or being composed of differing elements). A suggested definition could be: Biodiversity is the variety of all life forms on earth.

Read the following to students (or invite some students to read to the class):

Biodiversity has been important to agriculture since we started farming. Long ago, humans harnessed and steered genetic diversity by domesticating edible plants and animals. Even without understanding genetics, the earliest farmers did this by raising plants that produced large, edible seeds. As these domesticated plants spread worldwide, they evolved their variations. Like their wild counterparts, crops depend on genetic diversity for traits that help them resist disease and stay productive under stress. Genetic variation within crops also brings us the variety of foods we enjoy. Biodiversity within livestock is important for the same reasons, and there are thousands of heritage breeds of pigs, cattle, poultry and other animals that are beautiful, unique and specially adapted to their environments.
Maintaining biodiversity in the wild and crops has benefits on the farm. Even though they are managed by humans, farms are still ecosystems. Plants, soil, and animals depend on one another for nutrients and habitat. In a functional agro-ecosystem, healthy soil microbes provide nutrients to plants, the root systems holding the soil in place. Plants provide food and habitat to beneficial insects and birds that pollinate them and manage pests. Livestock can recycle leftover parts of crops and provide natural fertiliser to fields and pastures through manure. Agro-ecosystems depend on diversity to stay balanced, and industrial agriculture can disturb this. (Source)

Step 6. OPTIONAL

Explain to students that this understanding of cattle as being beneficial to farms and the environment is a shift from the messaging around cows and climate change that we’ve seen in recent years. Because large amounts of vegetation have been cleared to make way for cattle farms, and because cows produce methane, cattle are considered a significant challenge to addressing climate change. However, in practices like regenerative farming, there is an increasing understanding of how cows can benefit the environment in a farm setting. The following video demonstrates how cattle can be farmed in a way that minimises environmental impacts, and in fact, improves the environment:

Regen Farming - Cattle Grazing Password: RF_EDU (https://vimeo.com/841107179)

(Note: This video comes from the documentary Rachel’s Farm, which explores the journey that a farmer - Rachel Ward - takes when shifting her farm from conventional practices to regenerative practices.)

Find Out: Different farming practices - crop rotation, intercropping, polyculture and Charles Massey

Step 1

Students are to break into groups of 4. Each student in each group will need to be assigned one of the following topics so that each topic has been covered by someone in that group (*best for supported students). The following information is also available on the Student Worksheet.

Crop rotation*
Intercropping*
Polyculture
Charles Massy

Each student needs to become an expert in their assigned topic. They will need to research the answers to the following questions about their assigned topic:

What is my topic?
Give a broad overview of this topic (i.e. what is it about, how does it work)?
How does this topic relate to regenerative agriculture and other forms of agriculture?
What are three very interesting things about this topic that others should know?

Some sources to support students in their research include (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Crop rotation:

Rodale Institute - Crop rotation
The Old Farmer’s Store - The importance of crop rotation
The Happy Sprout - The importance of crop rotation

Intercropping:

Science Direct - Intercropping
Oxford Academic - Benefits and risks of intercropping
GeoPard Agriculture - Intercropping; benefits and types

Polyculture:

Agrifutures - Polyculture production
SEE Change - Polyculture might sound hard but it’s much easier than you think
Agrivi - Polyculture production system for a sustainable future

Charles Massy:

Beef Central - Our job is to get out of the way of mother nature - Charles Massy
Charles Massy on YouTube - What is regenerative agriculture and why do we need it?
ABC News - How the regenerative farming movement transformed Charles Massy’s sheep station.
Government of WA - Dr Charles Massy - Agriculture and Food.

Step 2

Once students feel they are ‘experts’ in their topic, they are to then share their knowledge with the other 3 members of their team on their chosen area of expertise. These 3 students are to take notes on the three other areas until they have a complete set of notes on all four areas.

Step 3

You could then take a moment to invite students to share some of the most interesting and important details they uncovered about each of the topics that the class looked at.

Take Action: The importance of diversity and biodiversity

Step 1

Students are to create an infographic (you could use Canva or another online infographic tool) that aims to inspire people to take action around caring for biodiversity while growing food. Depending on your students and the time available, the infographics could include some or all of the following, or you could assign different points to different students to tackle (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Why a sustainable food future is necessary for both people and the plant
Crop diversity and why it is important to food security
How regenerative agriculture can support ecological health
How regenerative agriculture can help address climate change
How regenerative agriculture can improve farm productivity
Why we need crop health and how regenerative agriculture can support crop health
Why working with nature (rather than trying to shape and control it) food can ensure food security now and into the future.

Some may need to conduct further research to create their infographics. Some places for them to start researching could include (*suggested as starting points for supported students):

Students should consider incorporating imagery that will support the messages of their infographic. This imagery might complement the text, include facts and figures highlighted in the text, or could be a chart or graph.

Students can use the Infographic Assessment Rubric to guide the creation of their work.

Step 2

Students can share their infographics with classmates. Students can use the rubrics to help peers improve their infographics before submitting their work to the teacher.

Reflection

Note: if you plan on completing multiple lessons from this unit, students should use a separate document for reflections throughout these lessons to track their changing views on agricultural practices in Australia.

Invite students to work independently to respond to the following prompts (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What was your understanding of diversity and biodiversity before this lesson?
What would you say if you had to explain the value of diversity and biodiversity for farming to a 10-year-old? Use 30 words or less.
How has this lesson made you think differently about your food?
What role do you think regenerative farming has for farmers and consumers?

Take it further

Students who complete the work early can engage with the separate ongoing lesson on Space Agriculture, which has been written and designed specifically for this purpose.

Differentiated learning

We trust that teachers are the best equipped to know how to cater to the diversity in their classes. At Cool, we incorporate a variety of differentiation strategies into each lesson. Firstly, each lesson in this unit appeals to an array of different learning preferences. Learning activities can be completed in a number of different ways - if a student feels more comfortable speaking rather than writing, there are opportunities to accommodate this.

In lessons that feature group work or learning stations, we trust that teachers will use their discretion in knowing how to best organise their students in accordance with positive working relationships and ability. Graphic organisers and scaffolds are often included so students can ‘visually think’ and keep a record of their work. While our lessons are designed to be 55 - 60 minutes in length, we trust that teachers will manipulate lesson and segment times according to the needs of their students.

Diversity and Biodiversity in Regenerative Agriculture

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UN Sustainable Development Goals

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