Andrea Cleaver & Jenny Bierman

”Agriculture looks different for everybody,” Jenny Bierman tells us. As Agricultural Literacy Coordinator, she teaches the students in this district how distinct and relatable agriculture can be to every individual. The story she tells—humble beginnings on the traditional grain and cattle farms that progress toward discussions of specialty crops, plot twists in the narrative such as pumpkins and llamas raised for wool—is a story she tells with enthusiasm, illustrating the many faces of agriculture to a captivated audience in Andrea Cleaver’s kindergarten class.

Last week, when Jenny visited, Andrea’s class discovered the intricacies of a pumpkin’s lifestyle. The bracelets the students created tell the whole tale: yellow beads for the sun, white for the pumpkin seed, blue for water, brown for the soil, and so on. Through a medium as simple as color, these young minds can now grasp what primitive man regarded as the “vegetable drama,” or the great mystery of why crops grow and die. Thanks to Jenny’s creative and thought-provoking program that the Illinois Farm Bureau sponsors, our kids don’t have to shoulder the trauma of these cavemen mentioned above. They’re learning the functions of the farm biz up front.

Around forty percent of Andrea’s kindergarteners come from families who could relate to agriculture as a family business. “Whether it’s their immediate family or grandparents or aunts or uncles, it’s somewhere in there,” she explains. Jenny describes the Farm Bureaus’ education initiatives mission as follows: “If kids learn about these careers and aspects of farming at a young age, they’re more than likely or more likely to choose that sort of thing for their career.” Andrea and Jenny have strong agricultural ties in their own families, and the communal framework of the farm has informed the cobbles on their paths to becoming educators.

Jenny, fueled by her passion for science and knack for teaching older students, was initially drawn to high school education. Though her program is present in classrooms at all levels, the energy and eagerness to please the younger students bring to her presentations is a gift she didn’t know she wanted. For Jenny, education is not just a job but a vocation that allows her to make waves in her area of specialization and help others fall in love with farming and the natural beauty of the earth’s continuing patterns.

Andrea’s decision to become an educator, specifically a kindergarten teacher, is rooted in the joy and authenticity she finds in working with young children. She describes the innocence and affection of kindergarteners as a daily reward. Despite the challenges that may come with the territory, the candid moments, like being told she’s the “best kindergarten teacher ever,” highlight the satisfaction and fun she derives from her role. She embraces her career with such enthusiasm because of her affection for her students and the fresh, exciting nature of each day in a classroom full of buzzingly curious minds.

Last month, Andrea’s class learned how to create a hamburger. More importantly, they learned where each ingredient from the hamburger was raised or harvested, and at the final count, it had passed through nine farms. “It’s not uncommon for a kid to tell me that the source of their Cheerios is the store,” Jenny muses. Our children need to own some brand of agricultural awareness because these give-and-take interactions with nature will be around as long as we’re under the sun.

“The Illinois Farm Bureau sees the importance of the family farm,” Jenny says. “The average age of a farmer is getting older. And we’re always going to need food; we’re always going to need fiber and fuel. Somebody’s got to be there in the future.” This year, the bureau spotlighted family farms as the theme for their educational outreach. 96% of Illinois farms are family-owned, in some way, shape or form. If we wrap our heads around that fact, we can join the Illinois Farm Bureau in explaining the difference between sweet corn and field corn to our students (and parents).