The Associated Press

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — A new approach to teaching high school students about the high-tech world of farming will get a test run this summer.

The Leaf-Chronicle (http://leafne.ws/IBxGJY) reports that the three-day course called "Conception to Consumption" will be offered to students involved in the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System's Science, Technology, Engineering and Math program. Students will spend most of their class time on a farm.

It is one of the first times that the University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Agency has partnered with a school system to provide a hands-on approach that integrates STEM and agriculture.

B.J Worthington, chief academic officer for the school system, says the purpose is to show the students how Science, Technology, Engineering and Math connect with agriculture.

"Understanding the role agriculture plays in the global economy is extremely important," he said. "We are trying to help them understand as the population grows, agricultural land will decrease. You have to use the sciences and technology and make it more efficient in the world of agriculture."

Earlier this month, students at the STEM Academy at Kenwood high school visited Baggett farm in Oak Plains to find out a little about what the course will entail.

John Bartee, Montgomery County director at the University of Tennessee Agriculture Extension Office, said it was exciting to see the reactions of the students as they learned different things, including how DNA technology is used to determine beef quality.

"At the Baggett farm, everybody really got into looking at the technology the farmer used," Bartee said. "I came away with a real good feeling of what the STEM Academy is doing. The students were brilliant and asked the speaker intelligent questions. It was unbelievable."

The session that runs June 19-21 will be near the end of wheat harvest, so students can see how farmers use GPS to harvest and replant, he said.

"I hope they take away the appreciation for the technology they are learning and how it can be used to help in agriculture and help us feed the world in a population that's growing rapidly," Bartee said. "We are looking at technology on a daily basis. They can take what they learn here and apply it.

"The students are brilliant. We would be happy to have them in agriculture and help us learn how to feed the world in 2050."