By Greg Booth
St.
Paul, Minn. — Budding ag entrepreneurs will no longer have to wait for high
school graduation to plunge into new business ventures. Starting this month, course
materials will be available to guide students in developing and marketing real ag-based
products.
“Dollars
and Sense: Adding Value to Agricultural Products,” a 62-lesson-plan course, was
designed by Professor Roland Peterson and grad students Justin Williamson and Randi
Nelson, all of the University of Minnesota’s agricultural education division.
“We call
it a course in a box,” Williamson says. “It has everything that the instructor
needs, from lesson plans to videos to other resources” and is designed to put high
school students in “a real-life situation.”
Rather than
solely textbook learning, the course emphasizes hands-on activities such as market
research, product development, financial planning and sales. Students can tap into Web
sites, government agencies and research facilities to design a product plan. Students
“try to produce a product or service and do it in quantity … They do it as a
real-life situation in a year-long course.” A draft course has been tested at
Humboldt High School in St. Paul, where high school students developed and are marketing a
dill dip mix (see story below).
Students also
receive instruction on legal issues, agriculture’s link to the environment, and case
studies in value-added Minnesota crops such as buckwheat.
Williamson says
producing a product forces students to look outside the classroom. “When they get to
a certain point, like food safety issues, it’s out of the hands of the local ag
education department, so they go to a place like AURI and ask for some help.”
“One of
the criticisms is that it’s almost too in-depth. We think it’s good to challenge
high school students, to get them to take that next step and actually develop and produce
(a product) and not just talk about it.”
“It’s
designed to be an out-of-the-box curriculum,” says Kai Bjerkness, AURI planning and
development coordinator in St. Paul. “Ag instructors can unpack it, pull out the
first unit, have all the collateral material and use it on day one. It comes in a big tub
with videos and samples, and it’s organized well.”
The project was
initiated by the Minnesota Agricultural Project, a coalition of ag-related organizations,
businesses and educators, and funded by AURI, the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, Land
O’Lakes and the U of M ag education division. Hobar Publications in Minneapolis is
marketing the course, which Bjerkness says will be available in late July when most
schools are selecting materials for fall.
For
information on purchasing the value-added ag course, contact Hobar Publications at (612)
938-9330 or 1-800-846-7027.
HAWKing dill
dip
Real-life
classes in production
and marketing are catching on at school
By Jenny
Eggersdorfer
St. Paul,
Minn. — A Humboldt High School hands-on ag entrepreneurship project has students
growing herbs, marketing dill dip, and even drawing organizational charts.
Led by business
teacher Gerald Hilker and family and consumer science teacher Rebecca Sauser
Christopherson, students started developing a value-added product idea last fall, made the
product and sold it — all during a 46-minute class five times a week.
The HAWK —
Humboldt Agricultural Working Kids — concept is borrowed from the success of the
Westbrook-Walnut Grove program, which evolved into a high school student-run company
called BOLT (Business Opportunities through Learning and Technology). BOLT students
produce and market a barbecue sauce through southwestern Minnesota retailers.
Legislators
wanted to replicate BOLT’s success in a metro area school, so they set up a program
administered by AURI. Humboldt was selected as a test school on the basis of its
facilities and project-based curricula, which integrate all departments and students.
Now, at the end
of a second semester, HAWK is growing by leaps and bounds. Dill dip mix is “selling
as fast as we can make it,” says project leader Rebecca Christopherson. “But the
exciting part is the growth of the students. They’re now calling vice presidents of
banks and thanking people for speaking with us. They talk to reporters. It’s turned
around so it’s more the students doing this and not the teachers.”
Growing it
themselves
HAWK students
started the fall semester by identifying a product they could produce and sell. Research
included farmers’ market tours and taste-testing various product ideas. Students and
advisors settled on a dill dip with spices and herbs students could grow themselves.
The next step
was planting and tending sample herbs, now produced in school “grow carts.”
Plans are underway for two new gardens on school grounds, including a butterfly garden for
the junior high and a grasses and herb garden for the senior high.
The class is
divided into six departments: production, finance, research, marketing, management and
distribution. ECOLAB employees give advice and mentor students in each department.
Students can decide which department they want to join and what jobs they will be
responsible for. Their company has its own board of directors, department chairs, and
officers — complete with an organizational flow chart.
HAWK teaches
all aspects of a business, from production to marketing, and students set deadlines for
assignments such as business plans. Students say they’re getting the feel for running
a business and, at the same time, are working toward fulfilling a graduation standard.
“I think
it’s great,” says Kai Bjerkness, AURI planning and development coordinator.
“There is a lot of energy and enthusiasm both from the teachers and students.
That’s fun to see.”
What students
think
Fun is the name
of the game. Junior Josh Aydt, a second-time class participant, says he’s involved
because “I thought it might be something new to try.” His job on the production
line has been fulfilling. “None of my plants have died,” he laughs. “So
that was a surprise.” The class has taught Aydt “how to take a product and get
it into the market.”
Humboldt
freshman Andy Peters, also a second-semester participant, agrees that his job on the
production side is well worth the time. “I really like interacting with people,”
Peters says. “That’s the best part of it.”
Students have
presented several times over the past few months, once at the State Entrepreneurship
Conference. They’ve also made a trip to Westbrook-Walnut Grove to visit with BOLT
students. Eventually, Humboldt hopes to use HAWK proceeds for scholarships.
The dill dip
mix is sold through the school while students work with the USDA and AURI on label issues.
Expansion plans include looking into different products, such as hot sauce. HAWK will
stick to herbs or spices, says Christopherson, but they are considering other ideas for
students to work on down the road.
For more
information, contact Humboldt High School at (651) 293-8600, or project leaders Rebecca
Christopherson at rebeccachristopherson@spps.stpaul.k12.mn.us or Gerald Hilker at
geraldhilker@spps.stpaul.k12.mn.us.
