Agricultural literacy of K-12 students is a national priority for both scientific and agricultural education professional organizations. Development of curricula to address this priority has not been informed by research on what K-12 students understand about the agri-food system. While students’ knowledge of food and fiber system facts have been studied, in-depth research into broader student understandings of the system have largely been ignored.

This study employed semi-structured interviews to compare urban elementary students’ understandings with nationally developed benchmarks for agri-food system literacy.

Findings indicate that no participant had ever grown their own food, raised a plant, or cared for an animal. Participation in school field trips to farms or a visit to a relative’s garden were the most frequently mentioned agricultural experience. Participants could readily name common food items, but could not accurately elaborate on the origins of common foods.

Post-production activities, like food processing, were not well understood. Students’ agriculturally related experiences did not appear to influence their understanding about where food comes from or what happens to food as it travels from farm to plate.

Table 2: Number and Percentage of Informants Correctly Stating Cheeseburger Origin
Cheeseburger component	Component origin	Number of informants correctly stating origin (%)
Meat patty	Animal	17 (94)
Lettuce	Plant	17 (94)
Cheese	Animal	16 (90)
Pickle	Plant	16 (90)
Tomato	Plant	16 (90)
Onion	Plant	14 (78)
Bun	Plant	5 (28)

Table 3: Number and Percentage of Informants Correctly Describing Common Food Origins
Cheeseburger component	Component origin	Number of informants correctly describing origin (%)
Cheese	Cow’s milk	13 (72)
Meat patty	Beef animal	10 (56)
Tomato	Tomato plant	9 (50)
Lettuce	Lettuce plant	8 (44)
Onion Bulb	onion plant	7 (39)
Bun	Flour/wheat plant	5 (28)
Pickle	Cucumber bush	4 (22)

…IS informants also provided inaccurate statements or what appeared to be guesses (eg. Logan inaccurately described horses found at racetracks as the source of bread and chicken, while Montie guessed that the meat patty came from a pig). Suzanne was coded nonexistent (N) because she said she was not sure or did not know when asked about the agricultural crop for each cheeseburger component. Lynn was coded incompatible elaborate (IE) because she gave inaccurate and elaborate descriptions about the origins of the pickle, meat patty, and bun. The following excerpt exemplifies Lynn’s comments:

Interviewer (1): OK, how about the pickles, [you said] they come from lions and tigers or was it lions? [Shook head affirmatively] OK, how do we get those [pickles] from lions and tigers?
Lynn: My granny just told me that when she was little girl, her mom used to go get lions and used to go hunt lions and tigers because they used to live by them and they used to cut them and they used to cut the pickles with [from] them.

I: Oh, OK, and how about the bread?
L: Well, my mommy told me that the bread comes from an animal. But I don’t know what animal. She just said it comes from an animal.

…10 informants (56%) were coded CI because their responses included both compatible and incompatible statements in comparison with the expert proposition. Denise, for example, provided both compatible and incompatible statements by saying that meat and milk come from farms, but vegetables, like the tomato, come from the store:

Interviewer (1): Why do we have farms?
Denise: So we so we can have lots of food and stuff to drink.
I: Lots of food and stuff to drink. And what do we get to drink that’s from the farm?
D: What do we get? We get milk.
I: What kind of food do we get from the farm?
D: We get meat and chicken wings and pig feet.
I: Where do you think they grow tomatoes?
D: In the backyard.

I: So you think Jack in the Box got their tomato from someone’s backyard?
D: No.
I: Where do you think they got it?
D: The store.
I: From the store, OK. Where do you think the store got it?
D: I’m not sure.