Young MacDonalds.

In urban areas, far from the American breadbasket, an unexpected subject is beckoning kids. They're studying agriculture--though it's less about traditional farming than it is about the business and technology of agriculture. "We're not trying to teach cows, sows, and plows," says Thomas Scott, principal of a Philadelphia high school with a farm. Even traditional farm groups are noting a growing interest. The National FFA Organization, formerly the Future Farmers of America, says that 476,000 students are now members, the most in 22 years.

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Reported by Elaine Israel