GrowNextGen

By Joel Penhorwood and Brianna Smith

At Pettisville High School in northwest Ohio, students learn in ways that prepare them for ag-centric post-secondary pathways. Thanks to ag educator Whitney Short and the GrowNextGen program, science, agriculture, and hands-on investigations come together to create a lasting impact, even for students without traditional farming backgrounds.

“None of the students in this class live on production farms,” Short explains. “They may have shown an animal in 4-H or FFA in the past, but they’re not from grain or livestock operations. That’s why building ag literacy is so important.”

Short brings her roots in production agriculture into the classroom. Raised on a sheep farm in the Pettisville district and now living on a grain farm, she studied animal sciences and agricultural education at The Ohio State University. Her goal is to make agriculture real and relevant for every student.

To do that, she relies on the GrowNextGen program, an educational initiative from the Ohio Soybean Council and Soy Checkoff that provides curriculum, labs, and career connections rooted in science and agriculture.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese and Dale Minyo

Teachers have a huge job to do with limited time, budgets and resources. So, when it comes to incorporating the amazing lessons that can be learned through agricultural production in the classroom, a little bit of help can go a long way. 

Donna Meller is a teacher at Pettisville High School. She teaches eighth grade science, environmental science, physics, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, and a high school research class. She had an interest in incorporating more real world, agricultural-based lessons in her teaching, but was not sure how to go about it.

“Even though it’s a very rural area, the students don’t have a farming background. I was realizing they did not understand where their food was coming from. I had to make it real world for them and also connect it to what was in their world around them,” Meller said. “John Poulson was the ag teacher at the time and he was a huge mentor of mine.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese and Dale Minyo

Engagement and wonder are incredible tools for learning, and soybeans facilitate both in the classroom.

Science teachers gathered in January at the 2025 Science Education Council of Ohio (SECO) Symposium, seeking new ideas to engage students in their classrooms. The event featured a session on growing soybeans with students. GrowNextGen teacher leader Erica Hitzhusen, who has been working on in-classroom soybean production with her students at Worthingway Middle School in Worthington on the north side of Columbus, facilitated the session.

“My first-year soybean project was inspired by a GrowNextGen teacher that I met here at the conference last year. We started with germinating the soybeans to get engagement and wonder, because a lot of my students don’t have any experience with growing anything. Then we went into a GrowNextGen e-learning course to teach students about why we even care about soybeans, especially in Ohio,” Hitzhusen said. … Continue reading

By Matt Reese

The real-time reactions for participating students are exactly what makes virtual field trips so engaging. GrowNextGen — a project of the Ohio Soybean Council and soybean checkoff — has connected Ohio growers with over 103,000 students since 2018, and brings the Flynns’ Lorain County farm directly into elementary classrooms.

“One of the most interesting things is the questions you get from the kids,” says Eric Flynn, watching a chat window fill with student reactions during a virtual farm tour. “When my wife Adele and I shared that we can plant as many as 9 million soybean plants in an hour, they were amazed. You can see their brains working in real time through the questions they ask.”

Growing up in rural Ohio, Eric was surrounded by farms but didn’t live on one. It wasn’t until after attending Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute and marrying Adele, a farmer’s daughter, that led the couple to eventually take up farming full-time.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese and Joel Penhorwood

Highbanks Metro Park, just north of Columbus, was home to a unique event this fall for educators from around Ohio to learn more about the soil and water around them. The Soil and Water Quality in the Classroom workshop was a collaboration between GrowNextGen and Feed the World, education programs of the Ohio Soybean Council and Ohio Corn & Wheat.

“If you think about where all of our food comes from, you have to start with soil and water. Even if you’re not eating corn or soybeans of some sort today, maybe you’re eating a hamburger or a steak. Where did that come from? Well, that came from an animal that had to eat a plant that was grown for them from soil and water,” said Jeff Jostpille, a GrowNextGen teacher leader and science teacher at Fort Jennings High School. “All life and our food sources require good quality soil and water.”… Continue reading

By Matt Reese and Dale Minyo

Curiosity is more than just a personality trait; it drives scientific discovery and problem-solving. In the GrowNextGen program — a project supported by Ohio’s soybean farmers and their checkoff — curiosity is a key component to fostering student success. The program provides real-world applications of science through agriculture, encouraging students to think critically and explore innovative solutions to global challenges.

“Curiosity is a superpower. I think it’s super important. It’s what you should be if you want to be a scientist, because you know the world is full of problems that need solutions,” said Tom Dyer, a bioscience teacher at Delaware Area Career Center. “I think about things like: we’re going to have a population close to 10 billion people, how are we going to feed them? How are we going to keep them healthy? How are we going to have enough safe water for them?… Continue reading

By Matt Reese and Dale Minyo

Anyone reading this probably already knows Ohio agriculture is often at the forefront of innovation on the national scene. This is certainly the case with the development of agricultural curriculum in the classroom through GrowNextGen, a project of Ohio’s soybean farmers and their checkoff.

The creation of GrowNextGen in Ohio led to a national version of the program called Nourish the Future being implemented in classrooms around the country. The effort all got started with farmers in Ohio who saw the opportunity to help young people understand more about agriculture, more about what happens on the farm and all the potential associated careers. The initial idea has grown exponentially.

Biology teacher Cati Riddell at Fairfield High School in Butler County has been working with GrowNextGen for nearly a decade, which has given her experiences and connections all over the country.

“I’ve had the pleasure of representing GrowNextGen at the national level at two Commodity Classics and then also at the National Biology Teachers Conference as Ohio’s Outstanding Biology Teacher of the Year.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese and Dale Minyo

Visitors to the Ohio State Fair go to visit the butter cow, see actual livestock in the barns and, of course, enjoy some fair food. Most fairgoers probably do not realize the ingredients for some of their favorite foods have many similarities with the high-quality diets being fed to the livestock at the fair — including soybeans.

“At our GrowNextGen booth we are talking about how our food that we eat is also somewhat similar to livestock feed with the use of soybeans in both. We have Cheez-Its and Chex mix and those products both have soybeans on the ingredient list, along with Smarties and Skittles candy, which also have soybean oil in them,” said Makayla Spoerr, one of several GrowNextGen ambassadors working at the 2024 Ohio State Fair. “Livestock feed is similar because it has soybeans in it for protein purposes.”

Livestock, of course, is the top market for soybeans with poultry, hogs, fish, sheep, and cattle consuming large quantities of soybean meal, which provides a key source of high-quality protein.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese and Joel Penhorwood

The field of agriculture and the curriculum options from GrowNextGen appeal to a wide range of students. Jodi Adams from Washington High School in Fayette County has found that her students with special needs are no exception.

Adams has been working with GrowNextGen for several years and has seen how her students can benefit from the curriculum when adapted for the special education setting.

“We tested soil samples from the corn field next to the school. We’ve talked about the importance of soil and water quality, what farmers do, and what happens if you have bad soil or bad water and what that does for the plants and animals and your food,” she said.

Always on a mission to find new tools for sharing agriculture with her students, Adams has participated in several Ag Biotech Academy workshops. In June, the event was held at the Ohio State University Western Ag Research Station just outside of Springfield.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese and Dale Minyo

While students are the main focus of the project, a batch of hatching chicks in a third-grade classroom has captured the attention of many in Mayfield City Schools east of Cleveland in Cuyahoga County.

“When you tell an eight-year-old they’re going to hatch chickens, it really goes without saying they are excited. One of the perks of being an elementary school teacher is that the students love school and they want to do it. Every day they want to learn something new,” said Jennifer Hancock, a third-grade teacher at the school. “I livestream the eggs while they’re in the incubator and then after the chicks have hatched so that everyone can see. The whole school and the whole community get to watch. It’s a big thing. Kids that aren’t even in my class are asking to come see the chicks. Even the principal came in to see them.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese and Dale Minyo

Columbus area elementary students are looking stylish this spring with some truly one-of-a-kind jewelry following the Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural and

Environmental Sciences “We Grow Scientists” event at Waterman Agricultural and Natural Resources Laboratory. “We Grow Scientists” was a free event help May 1 open to learners of all ages looking to learn more about STEM activities as part of the COSI Science Festival.  

The soybean seed necklaces students made at the event provide not only a unique look, but a great learning opportunity for young fashion-conscious students, said Lena Dickerson, a sophomore at Otterbein University and a GrowNextGen ambassador, who was working with students at the event.

“To make soybean necklaces, all you have to do is put two soybeans in a tiny little packet along with a cotton ball. Spray it with a little bit of water and as long as you wear that around your neck, the heat from your body actually helps it grow.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese and Dale Minyo

Commodity Classic brings farmers together from all over the country to learn, and it is also a great place for teachers to learn about the agricultural practices they are integrating into their classrooms.

Through the generosity of the Ohio soybean farmers and their checkoff, and the GrowNextGen program, many Ohio teachers have gotten the opportunity to travel to Commodity Classic to see first-hand the innovation and technology that goes into producing crops on America’s farms.

Kelly Lewis, the program instructor for bioscience technologies at Eastland-Fairfield Career and Technical Schools, was among around 50 other teachers from across the country who attended the 2024 Commodity Classic to learn more about modern agriculture.

“It was pretty amazing. They told me to bring an extra suitcase, and I’m really glad I did because I brought a lot back for my students. It was great to connect with growers and learn about different aspects of the industry.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese and Dale Minyo

Anyone who grew up in an agricultural setting understands the countless opportunities to learn on a farm. Unfortunately, though, the vast majority of students today do not get the chance to grow up in agriculture. Fortunately for those students, GrowNextGen is able to bring agriculture to their classrooms.

“I was really looking for a way for my students to learn about life science through authentic means. We talk all the time about collecting data and being good scientists in the classroom but it’s hard to actually make it happen,” said Kayla Mintz, 8th grade science teacher at Gahanna Middle School East in Franklin County. “Now we have 5-gallon buckets and we are actively growing soybeans. The students are testing height, how many leaves, the types of flowers. They are conducting their own research and collecting data on the soybean plants and learning all of our life science standards through that and we keep adding to it.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese and Dale Minyo

The definition of freezing point depression is: a colligative property observed in solutions that results from the introduction of solute molecules to a solvent. Make sense?

While this definition may not immediately seem even remotely interesting or relevant, freezing point depression happens to be the concept behind salting roads to improve winter driving conditions and a key component in the development of ice cream.

“I’ll teach chemistry until I’m blue in the face and the students just stare at me. But then I can kind of trick them if we make some soy ice cream. I calculate freezing point depression with them and then the macromolecule content — that’s when it clicks with them because they’re able to associate between the two and we can have a deeper conversation. Everyone eats, so that’s how I can connect the science with their real life,” said Jennifer Foudray, a biotechnology lab instructor for the Miami Valley Career Technical Center.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese and Dale Minyo

Farmers want to improve yields, but not just of the crops they grow on their farm.

“About 11 or 12 years ago, the soybean farmers on our board were looking for a couple things that would really make a difference. They wanted to invest in a couple of big projects. One was soybean yield — big surprise — but equally as important to our board was our education program,” said Tom Fontana, director of research and education for the Ohio Soybean Council (OSC). “They wanted to make the connection between science and agriculture in Ohio classrooms. Agriculture needs people to work in our industry and introducing students to all the aspects of agriculture and career opportunities in our industry is vitally important, as is educating them about what we do on farms.”

At the time, OSC had already been making significant investments in this area in cooperation with Jeanne Gogolski, current CEO of Education Projects, in the development of science-based school curriculum built around agriculture.… Continue reading