Activity 1: The Backwards Egg and The Domestic Food Supply Chain

1. Organize students into groups of 3-5 and distribute one hardboiled or plastic egg to each group.
2. Have students place the egg in the center of their notepaper and create a mind web around the egg, brainstorming all of the points where energy was used to produce it. If students have trouble starting this activity, provide them with a few of the items in the example list below.
3. Ask them to place these items on the mind web and continue brainstorming.
4. Have students think backward first. How has energy been used to produce this egg and get it here? (PowerPoint slide 7) For example:
   • Egg
   • Refrigeration at grocery store
   • Grocery store employee stocking shelves
   • Transportation of eggs
   • Cleaning and packaging egg
   • Chicken
   • Feeding the chicken
   • Housing and lighting, cooling, heating
   • Water for chicken/energy to pump water
   • Delivering feed for chicken
   • Growing feed for chicken
   • Sun
5. Then ask students to think forward. How will energy be used with this egg before it is consumed? For example:
   • Refrigeration
   • Mixer
   • Electrical or gas stove
6. After groups have completed their mind webs, ask groups to share by playing “Back and Forth.” One group starts by saying the first item on their list. Then, the next group shares one of their energy inputs without repeating. Continue calling on groups around the room until the groups have shared all they can. The group that adds the last energy input to the list wins! Write the energy inputs on the board as each group shares them.
7. Explain to the class that the energy inputs they have listed represent the path from producer to consumer that all food products go through.
8. Using Power Point slide 8, introduce the domestic food supply chain:
   1. Farm production
   2. Food processing and brand marketing (processing)
   3. Food and ingredient packaging (packaging)
   4. Freight services (transportation)
   5. Wholesale and retail trade and marketing services
   6. Away-from-home food and marketing services (food service)
   7. Household food services (households)
9. While continuing to display the domestic food supply chain ask the students the following questions:
   • Which step or steps do you think require the most energy today? (Answers can vary. Some foods have high energy requirements and others are low.)
   • Do you think this chain requires more or less energy than it did 100 years ago? (More)
   • What has changed in food production and processing that requires more energy use to obtain our food? (Increased technology and mechanization, food can travel farther distances to reach the consumer, higher levels of food processing to prepare "convenience foods")
     • Background: Research was conducted on adults between ages 18 and 64. The study found that time per day spent cooking at home dropped from 65 to 31 minutes per day between 1965 and 1995. People spend less time preparing food at home now, because we have access to “convenience foods” — foods that are ready to go right out of the package. This means that, while there is less energy spent at home preparing meals, more energy is spent by manufacturers who are preparing convenience foods.
   • Why do you think it might be valuable to look at energy use in the food supply chain? (Listen for observations that reference the cost of energy or the environmental impact of energy used at each step.)

Activity 2: Commodity Investigation

Note to teacher: This activity can be performed in groups or by individual students.

1. Assign a commodity to each group (or individual student). Possible commodities include corn, soybeans, rice, potatoes, oranges, grapes, strawberries, steak, apple, flour, milk and so on.
2. Give each student one Energy in the Food Chain handout.
3. Using the PowerPoint slide 9, remind students that there are multiple types of energy.
4. Instruct groups to research the energy involved in each step of producing their assigned commodity and the type of energy used. Groups should address the following questions as they complete their Energy in the Food Chain handout.
   • Where is this commodity primarily grown/raised?What energy is used?
   • When is it planted/harvested? What energy is used?
   • How is it planted/harvested? What energy is used?
   • How is the raw product commonly processed and/or packaged? What energy is used? 
5. Optional: If time allows, you may wish to have groups create a diagram mapping the flow of energy for their commodity.