Oklahoma Agriculture: Oklahoma Strong
Objective
Students will learn how agriculture makes Oklahoma and Oklahomans strong and
design a bulletin board to illustrate.
Background
Oklahoma agriculture makes Oklahoma strong. Agriculture adds over $5
billion to the economy and provides over 188,000 jobs.
There are 86,000 farms in Oklahoma. Some are small, some are medium and
some are large. Most of the farms in Oklahoma are family farms. The average size
is 400 acres.
In most parts of the state we have cattle and calves on farms of all sizes.
Most of the swine and poultry raised in the state are raised on large farms. Some
farmers raise smaller herds of sheep, goats, and turkey or flocks of chicken. To
feed all the animals, the farmers raise hay, soybeans, corn and sorghum.
We raise acres and acres of wheat, canola, cotton, peanuts and other field
crops. We grow peaches, watermelon, berries, and pecans as well. Some farmers
grow fruits and vegetables to sell in farmer’s markets.
Oklahoma agriculture makes us strong by giving us safe and healthy food
to eat. Beef, dairy products, wheat, fruits and vegetables produced in our state
provide a balanced diet to help keep Oklahomans healthy.
Agriculture is in our history and culture. The people who started our state
were mostly farmers, but agriculture was here before we became a state. Native
Americans were growing corn and squash here long before statehood. Cattle
trails that crossed our state were a way for cowboys to get cattle to market. Later
some of those cowboys started ranches in our state. The land runs brought more
farmers.
The Oklahoma song writer Woody Guthrie wrote about farming in his song,
“Talkin’ Dust Bowl Blues.”
Back in Nineteen Twenty-Seven,
I had a little farm and I called that heaven.
Well, the prices up and the rain come down,
And I hauled my crops all into town -I got the money, bought clothes and groceries,
Fed the kids, and raised a family.
Agriculture is even right there in the words of our state song—”Brand new
state, gonna treat you great, Gonna give you barley, carrots and pertaters, Pasture
fer the cattle, Spinach and Temayters!”
“We know we belong to the land,” as the song goes, “and the land we belong
to is grand!” Oklahoma agriculture makes Oklahoma strong.
www.agclassroom.org/ok
Oklahoma
Academic
Standards
GRADE 1
Visual Art—3.2
COMMON CORE
Language Arts—1.
RI.1,2,3,4,10; 1.W.2;
1.SL.1,2,3,4,5,6
GRADE 2
Visual Art—3.2
COMMON CORE
Language Arts—2.
RI.2,3,4,6,10; 2.W.2;
2.SL.1,2,4
Social Studies/Language Arts
1. Read and discuss background and vocabulary. Lead a discussion of the
lesson title.
2. Students will write stories and/or draw pictures to illustrate the
background reading.
3. Students will design a bulletin board with the theme “Oklahoma
Agriculture: Oklahoma Strong.”
4. Students will cut out magazine pictures or draw pictures of foods grown in
Oklahoma and glue them on a paper plate to make a balanced meal.
Vocabulary
agriculture— the science or
occupation of cultivating the
soil, producing crops, and
raising livestock
balance—an orderly and
artistic arrangement of
elements that is pleasing
herd— a number of animals of
one kind kept or living together
homestead— a piece of land
acquired from U.S. public lands
by living on and cultivating it
livestock—animals kept or
raised, especially farm animals
kept for use and profit
poultry— domesticated birds
kept for eggs or meat
ranching— the raising of
livestock (as cattle, horses, or
sheep) on range
swine— any of a family of
stout-bodied short-legged
hoofed mammals with a thick
bristly skin and a long snout;
especially : a domestic animal
developed from the European
wild boar and raised for meat
Extra Reading
McClure, Nikki, To Market, To Market, Abrams, 2011.
Sandler, Martin W., The Dust Bowl Through the Lens: How Photography
Revealed and Helped Remedy a National Disaster, Walker Childrens,
2009.
Scillian, Devin, and Chris Ellison, Pappy’s Handkerchief, Sleeping Bear,
2007.
Townsend, Una Belle, and Emile Enriquez, The Oklahoma Land Run, Pelican,
2008.
www.agclassroom.org/ok