TUCKER, Ga. – A new resource for high school agriculture teachers titled Poultry & Egg Production Curriculum has been released by the US Poultry & Egg Association's Poultry & Egg Institute. This curriculum is part of an outreach program to educate young people about poultry production and attract them to poultry studies and the poultry industry.

Agriculture educators are provided with a 13-lesson series that provides a comprehensive curriculum resource to teach students about the commercial poultry and egg industry. The lesson plans have been aligned to national Education Content Standards in Agriculture.


"Educating the next generation of consumers and encouraging bright young students to pursue higher education and careers in the poultry industry continue to be important goals of US Poultry & Egg Association," said Steve Willardsen, Cargill Value Added Meats, Wichita, Kan., and chairman of the USPOULTRY board of directors. "This curriculum program is one more effort in that objective."

The program was created through a collaborative effort by USPOULTRY, the California Poultry Federation, California Polytechnic State University and California State University- Fresno. It was funded in part by a grant from the US Poultry & Egg Harold E. Ford Foundation.

Included in the curriculum kit are lesson plans, quizzes and PowerPoint presentations on the following topics: Introduction to the poultry industry; history of poultry production; chicken genetics and reproduction; turkey reproduction; broiler production; egg laying hens; turkey production; egg processing; poultry processing; niche poultry markets; poultry anatomy and physiology; poultry health and welfare biosecurity.

CD versions are available gratis for US Poultry & Egg Association members and high school agriculture educators. The CD may be ordered online or the lesson plans can be downloaded atwww.poultryegginstitute.org.