The purpose of this unit is to enable students to realize and illustrate how math is a useful tool in making everyday decisions. It should elevate their awareness about how something as simple as the purchase of groceries has global implications and ramifications. Our students are not just consumers; they need to be educated consumers because we are training them for the future. They will be empowered to form their own opinions about whether it is better to purchase goods produced within a day's drive of their home or a product that is manufactured in a place with no windows. The lesson can be expanded to include such things as soil degradation around the world and calculate the percentage of land on earth that is still fertile enough to grow crops and sustain livestock.
Using mostly Algebra, students will be calculating distances food has to travel from farm to table, costs of production, graphing to determine break-even points, and other methods to help determine which type of agricultural practice is the most beneficial to the environment, economic impact to the community, uses the least amount of energy and is better for their health. Corporations have spent millions of dollars convincing the consumer that bigger is better. Students will gain an understanding of the facts based on their own research and calculations without the influence of a slick marketing campaign. Because businesses and large farming conglomerates have lobbyists in Washington, even the information we receive from the government is somewhat less than reliable. Knowledge is power and empowering students so that they can make more informed choices will undoubtedly have an effect on the food purchases and consumption within their household if only by a small percentage.
Because it varies so widely from country to country, the focus of this unit will be on US production and, more specifically, Connecticut. I want the students to look at what they eat and research from where it originated. After the information is collected, students will evaluate whether it can be obtained in New Haven County, within a 50 mile radius of New Haven County, the State of Connecticut, the Northeastern US, the continental US and beyond in that order. Because consumers are so detached from the production of food, the added purpose of the unit is to enlighten students' consciousness to what they are putting in their mouths and how their eating habits affect the world beyond New Haven. Most students can tell you what they like or don't like to eat, but few can tell you from where it comes or what it took to produce that chicken nugget, regardless of the conditions the chicken experienced before being slaughtered.
Students will be asked to compare and contrast production costs of a local farm, possibly one they have visited on a field trip, or cooperative and the costs related to food at a chain supermarket. They will explore the cost of the item from farm to register as well as the price of the item to the consumer.
If the unit is done in the fall, it is possible to thread the lesson over the course of the school year. For example, in New England and other parts of the US, it is apple-picking season. A class trip to the local orchard is a great way to build unity in the class and start a relationship with a local farmer. Once the seasons change, apples are still available year-round, but most are imported from outside the US. Students can compare and contrast the cost, quality and taste of the apples picked locally with that of the imports during the winter months.
Students can also calculate the percentage of soil and the gradual stages of soil degradation. The effect of industrialized farming has implications around the world beyond providing food for the masses. In the same way, local farming is limited in what it can provide for the community. As the demand for housing increases, land becomes expensive and some farmers, especially here in Connecticut, are forced to choose between the demand for their produce and the demand for their land.