Modern knowledge-based societies, especially their younger members, have largely lost their bonds to farming. However, learning about agriculture and its interrelations with environmental issues may be facilitated by students' individual interests in agriculture. To date, an adequate instrument to investigate agricultural interests has been lacking. Research has infrequently considered students' interest in agricultural content areas as well as influencing factors on students' agricultural interests. In this study, a factorial design of agricultural interests was developed combining five agricultural content areas and four components of individual interest. The instrument was validated with German fifth and sixth graders (N= 1,085) using a variance decomposition confirmatory factor analysis model. The results demonstrated a second-order factor of general agricultural interest, with animal husbandry, arable farming, vegetable and fruit cropping, primary food processing, and agricultural engineering as discrete content areas of agricultural interest. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that prior knowledge, garden experience, and disgust sensitivity are predictors of general agricultural interest. In addition, gender influenced interest in four of the five agricultural content areas. Implications are directed at researchers, teachers, and environmental educators concerning how to trigger and develop pupils' agricultural interests.

Farm education aims to (re)connect young people to agriculture via Education for Sustainable Development. However, research has hardly provided evidence that school farms foster agricultural interests. In this study, a weeklong residential school farm program with agricultural work experiences increased agricultural interests across German fifth and sixth graders (n = 799) compared to a control group without any special treatment (n = 201). The results revealed gender differences: Girls' interest only increased in animal husbandry, boys achieved interest gains in animal husbandry, arable farming, vegetable and fruit cropping, and primary food processing. The genderspecific results are discussed, and implications are drawn for research and educational practice.