A look at 20 years of pesticide, herbicide, and fertilizer use on farms in one ecozone (the Lower St. Lawrence Lowlands)

Note: The information used in this lesson is no longer being updated.

Overview

Students use E-STAT to look at agricultural chemical use on farms in the St. Lawrence Lowlands.

Contributor: Chris Drummond, Statistics Canada Support Teacher.

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Objectives

• To explore the pros and cons of chemical use by the agriculture industry
• To retrieve and review data on volumes of chemicals used on farms
• To read and interpret graphs

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Suggested grade levels and subject areas

Secondary
Environmental studies, Geography

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Outcomes

Students will

• retrieve data from E-STAT's Environment module;
• produce a bar graph;
• answer five questions about the use of chemicals in agriculture; and
• role-play a debate on agricultural use of chemicals (enrichment activity).

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Vocabulary

Ecoregions — Natural geographies delineated by common biophysical characteristics such as flora, fauna, soil, bedrock, and climate.

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Materials

• Access to E-STAT. If computer access is limited, students can work from teacher–generated tables.
• A teacher instruction package.
• A Student worksheet.

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Resources

Computers with Internet access.

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Classroom instructions

1. Read the Student Worksheet with the students. Spend a few minutes on each question to review the terminology.
2. Have the students start E-STAT.
3. Students can then follow the instructions on their worksheet.

   Optional — Ask students to hand in their answers to the questions on the worksheet for evaluation.

   Optional — Have students print a copy of their bar graph for evaluation.

4. If time permits, have the class participate in the role-playing activity described in the Enrichment section. This is a fun yet very effective tool for developing the students' understanding of the issue, and for assessing their own values.

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Evaluation

• Grade students' answers to the worksheet questions.
• Grade the bar graphs for completeness.

Note (for question D in the worksheet): The agriculture sector is taking some steps to address concerns raised by the agricultural use of chemicals. Here are some examples:

• Pesticides must be tested and registered before they can be used in Canada; sometimes, imported foods from other countries are produced with products that cannot be used by farmers in Canada.
• Farmers are becoming involved in environmental projects that help them plan and monitor their operations in a way that sustains their environmental resources.
• A farmer must take a course and pass an examination in order to buy pesticides.

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Enrichment

Role playing activity:

Queen's Park, Toronto. Rallies have been raging all day as special interest groups come to voice their opinions on agricultural use of chemicals. The provincial government is being pressured by some groups to pass legislation forcing farms to reduce chemical use. These groups may include environmental groups, public health groups, and concerned citizens groups. Other groups are demanding that the government not get involved and maintain the status quo. These groups may include farm co-ops, citizen groups, grocery store companies, and chemical manufacturing companies.

You are a member of an Interest Group (your teacher will assign you one, or you will choose one). CBC Television has asked your group to participate in a debate on the issue. Before the debate:

• Discuss with your group what points you will make in the debate to win the case.
• List the possible points your opponents will want to make, and think of good rebuttals to their arguments.

After both sides have had a chance to air their concerns in the debate, try to come to some consensus. Draw up an action plan that will attempt to satisfy both sides of the issue.

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Please e-mail comments or examples of how you used this exercise in your class.