The Science of Beef Reaches the Classroom

Nearly 1.2 million students in more than 100 school districts from San Francisco to San Antonio to New York City are now learning about genetics, sustainability and methane through the lens of beef production. These lessons, funded in part by the Beef Checkoff and developed by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture (AFBFA) are giving students across the country a real-world understanding of agricultural science.

Since 2019, the number of school districts using these Checkoff-funded classroom tools has grown from just 19 to more than 100. Teachers play an influential role in shaping students’ views and perspectives. Beyond imparting academic knowledge, they serve as mentors, role models and guides, fostering a deeper understanding of the world’s complexities. By connecting with the young minds of schoolchildren through their teachers, the Beef Checkoff engages with tomorrow’s beef consumers today.

Here’s how AFBFA is helping to reshape how science education connects to food and agriculture.

Methane Education

One of the newest additions to the AFBFA resource library is the Methane Transfer Task, released in fall 2025. This “transfer task” is designed to help students apply concepts like cellular respiration and systems thinking to real-world examples, specifically how cattle produce methane and its role within the broader environmental and biological systems.

Students examine charts and models from peer-reviewed science journals, EPA emissions data and resources from Checkoff-funded Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. to explore natural processes in cattle. The lesson is built to support student understanding of energy and matter flows, a core standard in environmental and life sciences.

This lesson is currently being introduced at science education conferences and spring workshops around the U.S. The lesson is already gaining attention as a science-driven way to bring agricultural topics into mainstream classrooms.

National Recognition

One of AFBFA’s Beef Checkoff-funded high school biology units, “Unravel Genetics to Raise the Steaks,” recently earned the NGSS Design Badge, a top recognition awarded by NextGenScience.

This badge is granted only to the highest-quality instructional materials aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The Checkoff-funded genetics unit was reviewed by a national panel of educators and passed with distinction. For teachers, this badge makes a difference in deciding whether a new unit gets adopted in the classroom.

This unit stands out because it teaches core genetics concepts like inheritance, trait variation and selective breeding through the real-world example of how cattle have changed over time. Students see how selective breeding decisions have led to more efficient beef production, all while mastering required science standards.

Tools That Fit

While some units replace traditional content, others serve as flexible add-ons for educators. The methane task, for instance, can be dropped into lessons on energy flow or chemical processes. Teachers also use the Beef Phenomena Toolkit to kick off a lesson with a real-world scenario or question, sparking curiosity and showing how science connects to students’ daily lives.

According to the 2024 survey, teachers reported using Checkoff-funded lessons across multiple classes and grade levels, often over multiple years. The average reach: nearly 200 students per teacher annually.

Strategic Partnerships

AFBFA’s impact goes beyond the individual classroom. Thanks to partnerships with state education departments, STEM ecosystems and national institutions like Boston University’s Center for STEM Professional Learning, these resources are making their way into statewide curriculum efforts.

Additionally, AFBFA has On The Farm STEM Ambassadors, a network of educators trained in beef science. These ambassadors are helping expand beef’s reach through local and regional teacher workshops.

In Maryland, for example, Montgomery County Public Schools curriculum director Jim Braymeyer participated in an On The Farm training and then organized a district-wide professional development event to introduce the beef curriculum to teachers. In New York, state education leader Andrew Ferrone worked with the New York Beef Council to host a full-day teacher training and is now planning a multi-day summer program to deepen statewide adoption.

Kansas and Colorado are already following suit, with additional teacher engagement events in the works.

More Than Lessons

Science-based education about agriculture is not only being accepted, but sought out. Teachers are hungry for accurate, real-world materials that help students connect classroom concepts to the systems that feed them.

And when that content is high-quality, standards-aligned and backed by the science of beef production, it’s not just educators who benefit, it’s the entire beef community.

The Beef Checkoff’s investment in classroom education is doing more than putting agriculture on the syllabus. It’s giving the next generation of students, consumers and decision-makers a grounded understanding of how beef fits into sustainable food systems, environmental science and the future of farming.

Explore the free Checkoff-funded curriculums here: https://www.onthefarmstem.com/