Fish Farming

Good water for drinking and agriculture is becoming a precious commodity on our planet. Meet a couple of agricultural engineers who are making the water go the extra mile by getting two crops from one water source.

Flowers by the Millions

You buy a dozen roses - he buys 3 million! Plus 1,250 sunflowers, 4,000 irises, and 5,000 calla lilies. In fact, he buys more than 100 million flowers a year. Introduce your students to someone who works with really big numbers.

Growing Bugs

"What? Growing bugs is a real job? And it requires math?!" Organic farmers depend on Jan Dietrick to supply them with good bugs that attack bad bugs. She depends on her knowledge of numbers to get the job done.

Hydroponics

Good farmland is in limited supply. Hydroponics is an additional way of meeting the needs of an expanding population. Show your students a hydroponic "lettuce factory" that produces over 50,000 heads of lettuce every week.

Statistics in Farming

There are over 2.1 million farms in the U.S., totaling over 900 million acres. And those millions of harvests producing food; they’re also producing data--a lot of data! That’s where statisticians like Sarah Hoffman and Jackie Brown of the USDA come in.

The Business of Farming

There are more than 350 different commodities grown in California. In a state that provides approximately 15 percent of U.S. agricultural products, statistics are an important tool for agricultural economists to keep up with supply and demand.

The Lundberg Farms

From planting the seeds to harvesting, and everything in between, Bryce Lundberg takes students through the process of growing one of our most important staples: rice. He depends on his algebra skills in what he does.