FACULTY NOTES

Many details are described for students in the "Student Instructions" section. Refer to that section for any details about the figure. The suggested student active approach for Figure Set 5 is called "Citizen's Argument." This approach requires students to approach a situation from the perspective of various citizen groups, and to make arguments that are grounded scientifically, yet represent their point of view. This activity was tested in a small high school classroom, and there were some outstanding statements from students.

After giving the students some time to read the instructions and look over the table, divide them into seven different groups and assign them to either the Michigan State Legislature or one of the six interest groups. You may need to assign the students to groups a few days before class, so that they can familiarize themselves with the interest group that they will be representing. Give them 10-15 minutes to prepare their argument. There are many other interest groups that could be formed - so feel free to modify the activity.

Each group has 3 minutes to present their argument to the legislature, which is a total of 18 minutes. Give the legislature a few minutes to think about how they want to vote, and then have each member of the legislature vote for or against the GWP-neutral farm law. After the legislature vote, hold a final class discussion about the outcome.

While the students are planning in their groups, they can come and talk to you - or ask questions about the figure. This is a good time to make any clarifications. Remember to remind them that positive GWP numbers on the table mean that greenhouse gases are being emitted while negative numbers mean greenhouse gases are being sequestered. You may also point out that these numbers are for southwest Michigan, and may vary with the landscape.

The activity as written will work best in small classrooms, but could be adapted to larger classrooms. Instead of including the entire class in one single "citizen's argument," divide the class into groups of seven. Each group of seven students conducts their own citizen's argument, where one student represents the legislature while the other six argue for one of the six interest groups. After providing the students with ample time to discuss, the legislator for each group can report back to the entire class regarding their decision, and why they decided to support or disapprove of the law.

Give the students the Land Management Activity as a homework assignment. This assignment requires them to consider both environmental and economic reasons for implementing certain farm practices. Of course there are other reasons that are factors, such as quality of life and labor requirements, but economics and environmental impact are two of the largest factors. When asked to produce the most grain possible while maintaining GWP neutral status, students should plan their farm to include no-till acres and early successional acres. To maximize profit, students may want to use a mixture of organic, no-till and early successional acres, depending on how they want their farm to look. Students should also include pictures of streams, ditches, etc.. in their pictures to depict a real scenario.

Assessment - Land Management Activity

Data from the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station Long Term Ecological Research Experiment (KBS-LTER) has shown that the global warming potential (GWP) impact of different agricultural activities could be mitigated considerably by changing management strategies.  Adopting specific strategies (e.g., early successional) that minimize GWP seems straightforward; however, in reality these decisions are complex due to the broader social and economic issues.  In an agricultural setting, a farmer strives to maximize his profits, so allowing all of his/her land to revert to early successional fields is not an economically viable strategy.  Likewise, this strategy would not be suitable in a social context either, because societies like to maximize food production. 

In this activity, you will assume the role of a farmer that needs to develop a management plan for his/her 1000 acre farm.  However, assume that a recent mandate by the government states that all farms in the United States must be GWP-neutral (0 lbs CO₂/acre /yr).  Therefore, the farmer needs to develop a management plan that uses different proportions of various cropping methods (conventional vs. no till vs. organic vs. early successional) to be certified as a GWP-neutral farm under two different scenarios:

1. maximization of farmer profit
2. maximization of food production

Use the table below, generated using data from the Kellogg Biological Station Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) experiment, to develop two farm management plans. 

1. Maximize grain production while maintaining GWP Neutral Status
2. Maximize profit while maintaining GWP Neutral Status.

Create your farm management plans on two separate sheets of paper. For each of the two plans, include the following:

1. A drawing of your fictional farm with plots of land labeled based on cropping method (Remember to consider that most farmland is not flat and some areas work better for agriculture than others)
2. The total amount of acres for each cropping method
3. The total annual grain yield from your farm
4. The total gross profit from your farm

# Positive values mean that greenhouse gases are being emitted into the atmosphere while negative values indicate that greenhouse gases are being sequestered by the cropping system.
* The average grain yield in bushels per acre includes all three crops (corn, soybeans, wheat) grown in the KBS LTER experiment. These three crops are grown in a three year rotation, so that each crop is grown every third year.
+ The gross profit values are based on conventional and organic grain markets in Chicago for the week of April 17th, 2007.