Welcome back!

Here's hoping you had a terrific summer and fall is off to a fantastic start.

The CFA staff, contractors and volunteers had a busy summer. The Summer Ag Institute (Craig and Fort Collins) was a smash hit and CFA, along with the Colorado Department of Agriculture and industry groups, provided Ag outreach to thousands of visitors at Colorado State Fair in Pueblo.

The Watershed Defenders middle school comic and reader is making its debut this fall. The publication is now available free to Colorado classrooms. Visit growingyourfuture.com for downloads and orders.

Look for the second comic in the series, Major Ag, to make its debut later this fall.

Watch the Broncos take on the Buccaneers October 5 and support Ag Literacy

Thanks to the Colorado Beef Council, CFA is auctioning four (4) club-level seats on eBay for the Denver Broncos/Tampa Bay Buccaneers game at Invesco Field in Denver. These are terrific seats with a face value of $292 each. Sunday, Oct 5th, 2:05 pm. All proceeds go to supporting ag literacy. Visit Beaufort details.

Where Food Starts

What's up at National Geographic and the Smithsonian? Dirt, or more precisely topsoil, is in the news. The September issue of National Geographic cover story is "Where Food Begins" and the Smithsonian is unveiling a new traveling exhibit, "Dig It!".

Did you know…

• There are more than 70,000 types of soil in the U.S.
• One shovelful of soil has more organisms in it than there are people on Earth.
• It takes more than 500 years to form 1 inch of topsoil
• Nearly all antibiotics used to fight infections are obtained from soil organisms.
• In 1 gram of soil, there are more than 5,000 different types of bacteria.

There's a good bit to discover about "the skin of the Earth". Here are a few of the Web resources (compiled by the Soil Science Society of America, https://www.soils.org/):

• SSSA "Soils Sustain Life" Educational Resources for Teachers: https://www.soils.org/lessons/
  
• Demonstration in Soil Science: www.agry.purdue.edu/courses/agry255/brochure/brochure.html
  
• Youth gardening project of Texas Agricultural Extension Service: http://jmgkids.com/
  
• Activities to help kids understand soil properties, provided by the NASA Globe Project: http://ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/globe/links.htm
  
• Soil Biology Movies: www.agron.iastate.edu/~loynachan/mov
  
• Cyberstop for gardening, Ag, environment and family living: http://agprogram.tamu.edu/agropolis
  
• Focus on the 12 soil orders; widely used for education: http://soils.ag.uidaho.edu/soilorders
  
• Dr. Dirt's K-12 Teaching Resources: http://www.wtamu.edu/~crobinson/DrDirt/Dr__Dirt_FAQ.html http://grunwald.ifas.ufl.edu (link: 3D Soil Landscape Models)
  
• Texas A&M 4-H, games, school project ideas: http://agprogram.tamu.edu/kids/index.html
  
• Soil, Water Quality Educational Resources: http://waterquality.montana.edu/docs/education.shtml
  
• Educator's Guide "The Living Soil" 2004 Soil & Water Stewardship Week: http://www.nacdnet.org/pubaff/stewardship/2004/educators.htm
  
• NRCS Helping Understand Soils Key Messages: http://soils.usda.gov/education/key_messages/
  
• Links and educational activities: http://www.usda.gov/news/usdakids/index.html
  
• Several links: http://www.cprl.ars.usda.gov/education.htm
  
• Teacher, kid activities + agriculture facts: http://www.usda.gov/nass/nasskids/kidpg.htm
  
• Kids learn about soil and plants as they solve the mysteries: http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/
  
• NRCS tidbits for teachers: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/feature/education
  
• Find general information at: http://soils.usda.gov/education/ and find K-12 resources at: http://soils.usda.gov/education/resources/k_12/
  
• Soil biology/soil organisms, "Just for Kids," for 4th-6th grade students: http://www.blm.gov/nstc/soil/Kids/index.html
  
• Soil Biological Communities, for high school and adult learners: http://www.blm.gov/nstc/soil/index.html

Colorado Environmental Film Festival

The October 2-5 Colorado Environmental Film Festival (CEFF) is an exciting, inspiring, and energizing event that includes world-class environmental films, an engaging exhibition hall with representatives from local and national organizations and companies, topical forums and discussions, consumer electronics recycling and a children's event. True to the spirit of Colorado, this event is supported and attended by people who value the natural world and share a passion for the power and beauty of film. To be held at the American Mountaineering Center, Golden, Colorado.

For more information or to view the schedule of events
Please visit www.ceff.net

Colorado Department of Education Content Standards Survey

Over the next 18 months, the Colorado Department of Education will facilitate the revision of all 13 Model Content Standards: Civics, Dance, Economics and Financial Literacy, Geography, History, Mathematics, Music, Physical Education, Reading and Writing, Science, Theatre, Visual Arts, and World Language. Our goal is to establish fewer, clearer, and higher standards to identify what students need to know and be able to do to be successful in post secondary education and the workforce.

To initiate this critical task we are working towards establishing definitions that guide our process, keeping the“Bedimming.” We are seeking input from educators,parents, business leaders, and the public at large to assist us indemnifying’s definitions of 21stcentury skills and abilities, school readiness, post secondary readiness, and workforce readiness. These definitions will inform the revision of our standards and allow us to create more meaningful assessment models.

We invite you, your colleagues, friends, and policymakers to participate in our online definitions survey at:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=mMm4M3_2b7Rw6S0_2fV7VEJibQ_3d_3d

World Trade: Motorcycles for Beans?

A Marysville, Ohio soybean farmer explains how his soybeans, grown in the shadow of a Honda motorcycle plant, are exported to Japan.

“When Honda first came in with a motorcycle plant, it was a good source of employment for folks,” recalls Bayley. “But I never dreamed we would have an agricultural product exchange program with Japan through Honda.”

Read the story and watch the video at http://americasheartland.org/episodes/episode_312/crops_and_cars.html

Beef Production Facts—Animal Welfare

The beeffrompasturetoplate.org Web site is a chance to hear first hand how ranchers view a variety of topics, not the least of which is animal welfare. Animal care and raising cattle go hand-in-hand. Producers know that giving animals the proper care, handling and nutrition they deserve is the right thing to do and it makes good business sense. Farmers and ranchers across the United States stand strongly against any form of animal abuse or cruelty. Read more and watch the video…

Back to Dirt: Plant and Soil Sciences eLibrary

We've mentioned this site before, but it is an outstanding teacher resource: http://plantandsoil.unl.edu/croptechnology2005/pages/index.jsp?subjectCategoryId=-1&three_col=1

The database can be searched by level, content area or keywords. Be sure to check out the the corn breeding interactive.