AGRICULTURE IS EVERYWHERE

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1 AG inthe CLASSROOM W A S H I N G T O N Volume 9, Issue /2010 Ag@School Published by Washington Agriculture in the Classroom Pro c es sin s an Tr tin g c u d n o i t g Pr o Agriculture Is: Your Food & More! po rt at e k r a M ion Today s Children Tomorrow s Leaders ag ri cul ture (ag re kul cher), n. growing plants and animals for food and other uses

2 AGRICULTURE IS EVERYWHERE Can you have an AG-FREE DAY? NO WAY All the food we eat, the cotton t-shirts and jeans we wear, leather shoes, lumber for our houses and furniture, soap, glue, many medicines, tires, books we read, and thousands of other things we use in our daily lives come from agriculture. Much of agriculture is growing and harvesting plants. We cannot live without plants. They provide all the food we eat either directly as crops, or indirectly as food for animals. They also make the oxygen we breathe, clean carbon dioxide from the air, cool our surroundings, and prevent soil from eroding. People in agriculture grow all sorts of plants, raise animals, and manage forests--- all things humans use for food, clothing, shelter, even fuel. Think & Discuss Using a map of the world, find Washington state and describe why we say our state is part of the Pacific Rim. Do you think this location gives us an advantage in trading with other countries? Fun Fact! Washington produces every native North American Fruit that is grown commercially in the U.S. Three are blueberries, blackberries, and Concord Grapes. Can you name the fourth? (Hint: You may eat them with turkey and dressing.) Agriculture is a long word so it is often shortened to ag. Agriculture starts with the growing and harvesting of food, fibers, forests, and flowers. It ends with almost everything we eat, wear, and use. Answer: Cranberries 2

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4 PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS Most of our urban population is concentrated in this region, but there is rich soil in these lowlands that stretch from the Puget Sound to the base of the Cascades. This area is perfect for that fabulous milk maker, the dairy cow, as well as for raspberries, vegetable seed, produce, tulips, and other nursery products. Grown In W OUR STATE IS DIVIDED SEVEN GROWING REGI The climate, physical features, and geography change as you cross our diverse state, dividing our state into seven distinct regions. Each region has its own name. We have colored them for you. OLYMPIC PENINSULA The Olympic Mountains provide timber and recreation. Forest products like an evergreen shrub named salal, are collected and shipped nationwide to florists. Lavender is a favorite floral crop from this region. San Juan Whatcom Island Skagit Clallam Snohomish Jefferson Kitsap Chela CASCADE MOUNTAINS The Cascades have spectacular peaks and lots of timber and recreation areas. The lower elevations provide grazing areas for cattle as well as land that grows timothy hay and apples. Grays Harbor Pacific Mason Wahkiakum Thurston Cowlitz Lewis Pierce King Skamania Kittit Yakim Clark Klickitat WILLAPA HILLS The costal hills are ideal for growing Christmas trees. Trees are harvested in the fall and bundled in large stacks. This region also produces cranberries, oysters, and is home to many farm markets and community supported agriculture (CSA) operations. 4 COLUMBIA BASIN The dry region east of the Cascades is a huge lava plateau with rich soils. The heart of the basin receives less than 10 inches of precipitation yet this region is our most productive agricultural region. The reason is irrigation. The Columbia River and its tributaries provide water for a region that has ideal conditions for alfalfa, potatoes, corn, mint, grapes, apples, cherries, and many other crops.

5 ashington INTO ONS n as a Okanogan Douglas Grant Benton OKANOGAN HIGHLANDS The Okanogan Highlands are rugged foothills between the Cascades lying on the west and the Rocky Mountains to the east. Here beef cattle graze among another valuable renewable resource, trees. Trees provide paper, pencils, furniture and houses. This region also grows a variety of fruit trees. Franklin Ferry Lincoln Adams Walla Walla Stevens Columbia Pend Oreille Spokane Whitman Garfield Asotin ~ Where in Washington? ~ Washington s top ten commodities (in 2007) are listed below with a fast fact and one of the counties that produces it. Find each county and put a number on the map to match the top ten commodity produced there. 1 Apples Tasty and healthy! Apples are high in fiber, low in calories, a good source of potassium, with almost no sodium or fat. Chelan County is a large producer of apples. 2 Milk One of only two foods whose only purpose is to be a food. Can you name the other one? Dairy cows make milk and lots of cows can be found in Whatcom County. 3 Wheat Washington s main wheat variety, soft white, is used for pastries (like doughnuts and pies), cookies, oriental noodles, as well as flat breads. This is why most of our crop is exported around the world. Whitman County is the #1 wheat-producing county in the nation since Potatoes Potatoes grow underground, but are not a root vegetable. They are a bulge in the underground portion of the plant s stem called a tuber. Grant County produces the highest yields per acre of all potatoes grown in the U.S. 5 Cattle (cows) Beef is only one of many products that come from cattle. By-products from cattle are used in soap, clothing, drugs, sports equipment and many other things we use every day. Cattle are raised in every county, especially Okanogan. 6 Hay Hay is known as the invisible crop because humans do not eat it, animals do. Alfalfa and grasses are harvested, dried and packed into bales for storage and winter feed. Timothy grass is a popular hay for horses, and Kittitas County produces lots of it. 7 Nursery & Greenhouse Products This group includes a great variety of plants: flower and vegetable plants, bulbs, landscaping shrubs, and fruit trees. Skagit County is a top producer of tulips and daffodil bulbs and other nursery plants. 8 Cherries Cherries are one of the fastest maturing fruits. Within 60 days blossoms mature into sweet, tasty fruit. They are picked, packed, and shipped to markets throughout the U.S. and more than 42 countries around the world. Benton County is known for cherries. 9 Pears Today s Northwest pear varieties are the same or similar to those first cultivated in France and Belgium and are prized for their delicate flavor, buttery texture, and long storage life. Yakima County has more acres planted to pears than any other county in Washington. 10 Grapes Washington leads the nation in the production of Concord grapes which are used to make grape juice and jelly. We also grow 27.5% of all Niagra grapes which are used mostly for white grape juice. In addition, Washington is known around the world for fine wine grapes. Walla Walla is on the same latitude as the wine growing regions of France FIND YOUR COUNTY ON THE MAP. LIST THREE FARM PRODUCTS FROM YOUR COUNTY. Which of the top ten commodities did you eat or use yesterday? BLUE MOUNTAINS The Snake River skirts around the Blue Mountain range in the southeast corner of our state before it feeds into the Columbia River. Cattle graze among sagebrush and timber. Wheat, barley, asparagus, onions, green peas and grapes are grown here. This region also boasts the most inland seaport serving the Pacific Rim at Lewiston-Clarkston. THINK: If we had no farmers, how would your life be different? Would your parents have the same jobs as today? Would you have different chores? If we didn't have transportation would your diet be the same? Would the foods you eat change with the seasons? 5

6 Washington is blessed with great soil and climate for growing diverse agricultural products. That s not all! Our river resources and ocean ports help us move agricultural and other materials throughout the Pacific Rim at an affordable cost. That means that wheat trucked from Montana and potatoes grown in Idaho, as well as products from our own state, can travel by water to ports around the globe. COLUMBIA RIVER COLUMBIA RIVER SNAKE RIVER A Water Stairway The Columbia and Snake Rivers form a highway for boats and barges. This could not happen without a series of 8 locks and dams that make a stairway in the river. Between the port of Clarkston and the Pacific Ocean the rivers drop over 700 feet. Like a water stairway, the locks allow boats to move up and down the rivers. A lock and dam work together. The dam holds back water, creating a pool. The lock is a rectangular water chamber near the dam with watertight gates at each end. To lower a boat or barge, the lock is filled with water to the upstream level. The barge moves into the lock. The upstream gate closes and water is drained out of the lock, lowering the barge to the downstream level. The downstream gate opens and the barge leaves the lock. Boats can travel the other direction, too, moving from lower to higher water levels. Through locks, boats can travel past dams, waterfalls and other obstacles. irrigation, flood control, recreation, and fish passage. Priest Rapids Rock Island Wanapum Rocky Reach The dams numbered on the map do not have locks for boat passage but they do provide very important benefits. Clean, inexpensive, renewable hydro-electric power is produced as water moves through the dams. Dams are also important for Wells Chief Joseph No dam is more important to agriculture than the Grand Coulee Dam. It provides water to the huge Columbia Basin Project that irrigates over half a million acres. In addition to watering land that was formerly desert, the project created another half million acres of wetlands, wildlife habitat, and lakes for recreation. Amazingly the project uses less than 2% of the yearly flow of the Columbia. THINK AND DISCUSS Name three renewable energy sources. Why is hydroelectric energy the most reliable? Should we add more hydropower generators to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels? 6

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8 Your Food Comes From Agriculture With So Many Choices! Is it a Fr u i t o r a Ve g e t a b l e? This is a very confusing question, and the answer is, it depends. If you ask a botanist (a scientist who studies plants), a fruit is a mature plant ovary that contains seeds. To a botanist, apples, peaches, berries, peppers, tomatoes, pea pods, eggplant, and cucumbers, are all fruits of plants. A vegetable is simply part of a plant that is grown primarily for food. So, the leaf of spinach, the root of a carrot, the flower of broccoli, and the stalk of celery are all vegetables. Horticultural (science of growing plants) definitions describe fruits as usually growing on woody vines, canes, or trees and are perennial (plants that live and produce seeds for many years). Vegetables are usually annuals (plants that live for only one growing season). To the chef, or even to the average person talking about food, a fruit is an edible plant part that is eaten as a dessert or snack because it is sweet, we make the distinction between sweet plant parts (fruits) and non-sweet plant parts (vegetables). So, even though melons are vegetables, because they are sweet and appear in fruit salads, they qualify as a serving of fruit in your diet. Olives, avocados, and tomatoes are by definition fruits, but are usually served in a vegetable salad. Rhubarb is a vegetable (even though it is a perennial) that is combined with other fruits. Rhubarb is a good example of a plant with an identity crisis! It is a perennial plant, but classified as a vegetable, and used as a fruit. It s good for you! (high in calcium, vitamin C and fiber). Rhubarb loves being cool, even in places like Siberia and Alaska! It is a perennial plant that is very winter hardy and resistant to drought. Rhubarb is produced from crowns consisting of fleshy rhizomes and buds. Temperatures below 40 F are required to stimulate spring growth, and summer temperatures averaging less than 75 F for vigorous vegetative growth. In the United States, commercial production is concentrated in Washington, Oregon, and Michigan. Using what you have learned in this magazine, where do you suppose most of the rhubarb is produced in Washington state? Blueberries are one of the four fruits native to North America. They were an important part of the Indians diet. Dried wild blueberries were added to stews and pounded into meat. Indian tribes shared dried berries with the Pilgrims to help them survive that harsh first winter in the new world. Ninety-five percent of the world s commercially produced blueberries are grown in North America. Washington state produces 10.5% of the US supply. Harvest is both by hand and mechanical picking. Most of the machine-harvested blueberries are frozen immediately for use year round using a process called IQF (individually quick frozen). Cultivated blueberries need an acid soil and cool dormant periods (as much as 1000 hours a year below 45 F). If the temperature drops below 45 F for 12 hours a day, how many calendar days are required to meet the 1000 hours of dormancy? People have been enjoying sweet, juicy blueberries for centuries, not only for their great taste but also for the vitamin C and fiber they add to our diet. Blueberries rank among the highest of all fruits and vegetables in antioxidant activity. Antioxidants help protect the cells in our body from damage. WANTED Your Art Work What did you learn about agriculture from this issue of Ag@School? Draw and color a picture (18x24) about agriculture in your county or Washington State. Send entries to: Gaynor Edwards 443 Road T NE Warden, WA By November 5, 2009 Winning artwork will be featured in the next issue.