Farmer Choices Game
How to play:
- Watch the tutorial video above
- Print and read the instruction booklet
- Print your geography cards
- Print your chance cards
Farming is a rewarding profession, but it also comes with challenges. The Monsanto STEM Education Team wanted to design a game which allows the learner to experience what it’s like to farm in different parts of the world.
For the most part, farming is about mitigating risk. Farmers look at their equipment, seed choices, crop protections, and other factors to determine their needs and what fits into their budget.
Soil, water, weather, and pests are not ubiquitous. In fact, some of these factors can change acre to acre, but knowing what works best for your farm and leveraging technology to support a productive growing season.
In this game we wanted to immerse the learner; whether that’s a high school student or college business student, the learner is able to experience what it’s like to farm in three very different regions: West Africa, Brazil, and Midwest United States.
The game is usually completed in 30 to 50 minutes, but depends on how many people are playing, and if you decide to have the learners switch regions after each game.
Agriculture is an interdisciplinary area of study, so whether you’re covering economics, business, agriculture, or science, this game can be an exciting way to teach concepts of modern agriculture.
This game is ever-changing because agriculture is ever-changing. If you have feedback for the team who put together this game, we’d love to hear it so we can make improvements for future learners. Please contact stemeducation.outreach@monsanto.com.