The curriculum is part of the Association's student outreach programme to educate young people about poultry production and attract them to poultry studies and the poultry industry.

The 13-lesson plan series provides agriculture educators with 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 of Cargill Value Added Meats in Wichita, Kansas, and chairman of the USPoultry board of directors. "This curriculum programme 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.

The curriculum kit includes 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 at no charge for US Poultry & Egg Association members and high school agriculture educators. The CD may be ordered online or the lesson plans can be downloaded at www.poultryegginstitute.org. For questions, contact Paul Pressley [email protected].