When the “Ag Lady” walks through the doors at Geggie Elementary School, students never know what to expect.
One week, Erica Schwoeppe will bring in cornstalks. The next, small cups of cream for students to make butter with. If the students are lucky, Schwoeppe said she may bring in Timothy or Olly, both bottle-fed calves from her family farm in Labadie.
Schwoeppe, 48, has worked part-time with a program through the Missouri Farmers Care group, Agriculture Education on the Move (AEOTM), for about 13 years. For the last four years, she has been invited to teach a 10-week course in the spring to Geggie fourth graders.
The course focuses on the importance of Missouri agriculture.
“When I come into Geggie, the fifth graders are always like, ‘There’s the Ag Lady! I remember you!’ So that feels good, that they had a good experience and took something away from it,” Schwoeppe said. “You never know what the Ag Lady is going to bring in for the day.”
AEOTM teachers travel across the state to provide hands-on learning opportunities for young students, according to a Missouri Farmers Care news release. The program reached more than 10,000 students in 2023.
Schwoeppe said she teaches at St. Louis-area schools. This spring, she taught at Pacific Elementary and Chesterfield Elementary in addition to Geggie. She said she tries to accommodate schools when they request stand-alone lessons as well.
While education is a passion for Schwoeppe, her full-time job is operating a family farm with her husband, Terry; son, Jacob; and daughter, Avery. The Schwoeppes grow corn, soybeans, wheat and milo. They also raise Angus beef cattle and horses.
From left, Jacob, Erica, Terry and Avery Schwoeppe on their family farm near Labadie.
Jenny Archambeault, Rockwood’s Partners in Education facilitator, said teachers reach out for Schwoeppe’s lessons and expertise to supplement their lesson plans.
“(Schwoeppe) goes above and beyond,” Archambeault said. “Some of our schools this year have adopted cows as part of their class. We asked her to come in and speak with the students about what it takes to raise a cow, take care of a cow.”
Archambeault said Ridge Meadows Elementary in Ellisville and Eureka Elementary held assemblies with Schwoeppe. She said the assemblies keep students engaged and make learning fun. Schwoeppe also regularly attends various science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) nights across the district.
“It brings what (students are) learning in the classroom to life and applies what they’re learning to the real world,” Archambeault said of the STEM nights.
Schwoeppe said she doesn’t have an education degree, but she said growing up and working on a farm has given her the expertise that she shares in classrooms. She said inspiring the next generation to pursue a career in agriculture is important.
“I’m hoping my lessons make (the students) think a little bit about, depending on what field they want to go into, that they can do something agricultural-related,” Schwoeppe said. “At that age, they’re too young to know exactly what they want to do, but I can put a little seed in their pocket and get them a little bit more interested in agriculture.”
Decline in Missouri farming
While Missouri has the second-most farms of any state, with 87,887, the number of farms has declined by 7.8 percent since 2017, according to the 2022 Census of Agriculture. Nationally, the number of farms fell 6.9 percent since 2017.
Schwoeppe said the future of Missouri farming depends on the ability to inspire the next generation.
“The number of family farms are going down and that’s kind of sad,” Schwoeppe said. “It’s one of those things that I hate to see. (Farming) is not always where the money’s at, so kids will go to college and then get a career in town or off the farm, not involved in agriculture at all. You can’t sit there and tell your child that they can’t do something because it’s not on the farm.”
Ashley McCarty, executive director at Missouri Farmers Care, said that AEOTM helps students change how they see and appreciate the products they consume and realize the potential of pursuing careers in agriculture.
The program is funded by the Missouri Soybeans Association, Missouri Beef Industry Council, Missouri Corn Growers Association and the Missouri Rice Council, among others.
“The entire community benefits as local students experience the thrill of germinating seeds, understanding the basics of how their food is produced and opening their eyes, many for the first time, to the agriculture all around them,” McCarty said.
Teaching at Geggie
Schwoeppe taught her course from January through March at Geggie, where students learned about Missouri’s crops, livestock and nutrition.
Schwoeppe said two of the 50-minute lessons were dedicated to Missouri’s largest commodities, corn and soybeans. A third lesson covered the state’s lesser-known crops, such as cotton and rice.
“A lot of people don’t know that we raised cotton and rice in Missouri, so I’ll always be touching on them (in the lesson),” she said. “I say, ‘What country do you think of when I say rice?’ And they all say China, obviously. And I’m like, ‘No, we do grow that here in Missouri also.’ It always throws them through a loop.”
Christine Haeffner, a fourth grade teacher at Geggie, said Schwoeppe taught in all fourth grade classes once a week for the program. Students were given an activity booklet with crosswords, word searches and fill-in-the-blank activities, she said.
Haeffner said Schwoeppe’s lessons covered important educational points in reading, writing and STEM. Haeffner said Schwoeppe’s lesson on livestock, including beef, poultry and pork, fit well with her science unit on animal habitats.
“She really makes kids think outside the box and dig deep down,” Haeffner said. “You go to the store and pick up a carton of eggs, but where do those eggs really come from? Milk is a part of our everyday life, but where does it come from?”
Schwoeppe said dairy is her favorite lesson to teach. After a presentation on the importance of Missouri dairy farms and the nutritional value of dairy products, Schwoeppe will pass out small cups with cream.
“When I’m about 15 minutes out of being done, I pass out all the cups and I’ll say, ‘OK, you guys have got to do two things. You have to listen to me and pay attention and you have to shake your butters,’” Schwoeppe said. “Within a few minutes, they can actually see the product taking shape just by shaking the cup.”
Other hands-on activities include germinating soybean seeds and creating mock soil profiles from marshmallows and pudding. Haeffner said these activities make an impact on her students, and also their parents.
“The students take these ideas home and have family conversations about it,” Haeffner said. “You get a lot of kids who say their days were fine, but they don’t really get into it. Parents told me their kids would elaborate more every time Erica came in for a lesson.”
Schwoeppe said her last lesson at Geggie was on various career paths connected to agriculture. Not only are farmers important for Missouri’s agriculture, she said, but so are engineers, researchers and veterinarians.
“The students love it, and I love that they love it,” Schwoeppe said. “This is a nice way I can contribute to the agricultural world with my love for teaching and educating kids about ag.”