Farm-Based Education and Living History Museums

Written by Ansel Laurio, this paper explores the relationship between farm-based education and living history farms.

Introduction
This paper explores the relationship between farm-based education and living history farms.  According to the Farm-Based Education Association (FBEA), a professional organization for farm-based education teachers, farm-based education is:" ...a form of experiential, interdisciplinary education that connects people to the environment, their community, and the role of agriculture in our lives and that promotes land stewardship, the value of meaningful work, and supports the local food systems that sustain us."
The educational values of The Farmers' Museum, a living history farm in Cooperstown, New York, are similar to the values of farm-based education.  Part of the mission of The Farmers' Museum is to represent, "American rural life as typified in central New York by preserving the past, recording the present and educating for the future."I

In order to preserve the farming past at The Farmers' Museum, it may be useful for visitors to understand the connections between traditional farming and modern sustainable agricultural practices.  Merging ideas from farm-based education into the experience at The Farmers' Museum can help further this understanding.  My thesis is that The Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, New York can borrow ideas from educational programs at farm-based education centers around the country, in order to make its own educational programming more fulfilling and relevant to visitors.