Sunflower Farmer Math

In an effort to make math more interesting for kids and to make my kids understand that math really is important, I have started a series of Farmer Math questions to go along with the Flat Aggie reports.  These are patterned after the blog Bedtime Math.  Some of the questions are easy enough for pre-schoolers and sometimes I come up with some to even challenge high school seniors.  Flat Aggie learned all about Sunflower harvest in Manitoba, Canada.

1.)  Flat Aggie learned there are confectionery sunflowers and oil sunflowers.  How many types of sunflowers are there?

2.)  Flat Aggie learned that sunflowers need to be 9.5% moisture to store well.  The sunflowers they were cutting were 12% moisture.  How many percent water do they need to dry out of the sunflowers, so they will store well?

3.)  The farmers spray the sunflowers 3 weeks before harvest to speed up harvest.  How many days is that?

4.)  A semi truck can haul 55,000 pounds.  If the sunflowers are making 2000 pounds per acre, how many acres of sunflowers can fit on a semi truck?

5.)  If the blackbirds eat 1% of the sunflowers in an acre, how many pounds of sunflower seeds did the blackbirds eat?  Assuming there are 2000 pounds of sunflower seeds per acre.

1.) 2 types of sunflowers  2.)2.5%  3.) 21 days 4.) 27.5 acres  5.) 20 pounds per acre


If you are a teacher or homeschooler that would like more information to go with the Flat Aggie reports, send me a message on my contact form.  Along with the report and the Farmer Math questions, we send each teacher an additional page of activities, and sometimes a few hands on activities and crossword puzzles.

-A Kansas Farm Mom