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The Big Deal About Big Ag

Discover how technological advances and economic forces influence the size of farms in the United States. Evaluate the pros and cons of large-scale agriculture for the production of our food, fuel and fiber and identify the similarities and differences in commercial vs subsistence farming.

Grades
9 – 12
Estimated Time
2-3 hours
Updated
October 18, 2024
Image of soybean field with graphic representing a small and large farm

Background

Lesson Activities

Standards

National Content Area Standards

  • Career & Technical Education
    • AFNR (Grades 9-12): Agribusiness Systems Career Pathway
      • ABS.01.01: Apply micro- and macroeconomic principles to plan and manage inputs and outputs in an AFNR business.
  • Social Studies – Economics
    • Economics Standard 7 (Grades 9-12): Markets and Prices
      • Objective (Grades 9-12): Identify markets in which they have participated as a buyer and as a seller and describe how the interaction of all buyers and sellers influences prices. Also, predict how prices change when there is either a shortage or surplus of the product available.
    • Economics Standard 9 (Grades 9-12): Competition and Market Structure
      • Objective (Grades 9-12): Explain how changes in the level of competition in different markets can affect price and output levels.
    • Economics Standard 14 (Grades 9-12): Entrepreneurship
      • Objective (Grades 9-12): Identify the risks and potential returns to entrepreneurship, as well as the skills necessary to engage in it. Understand the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation to economic growth, and how public policies affect incentives for and, consequently, the success of entrepreneurship in the United States.
  • Social Studies – Geography
    • APHG Topic 5.1: Introduction to Agriculture
      • PSO-5.A.2: Intensive farming practices include market gardening, plantation agriculture, and mixed crop/livestock systems.
    • APHG Topic 5.6: Agricultural Production Regions
      • PSO-5.C.1: Agricultural production regions are defined by the extent to which they reflect subsistence or commercial practices (monocropping or monoculture).
    • APHG Topic 5.7: Spatial Organization of Agriculture
      • PSO-5.C.3: Large-scale commercial agricultural operations are replacing small family farms.
      • PSO-5.C.5: Technology has increased economies of scale in the agricultural sector and the carrying capacity of the land.