Teacher Helen Casarez Smith uses a hot topic to teach math at Mesilla Park Elementary School.
Students bring chile to class, measure it and graph the dimensions on a computer.
In science, they conduct experiments on pepper pungency. Smith started using agriculture in her lessons years ago while teaching at Fairacres Elementary School. It's teachers like Smith who benefit from agricultural resources and workshops, says Jennifer Hopper, Agriculture in the Classroom director for the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau. Hopper received both bachelor's and master's degrees from NMSU's College of Agriculture and Home Economics. We don't ask teachers to teach agriculture.