Over the course of three days, May 5^th, 7^th, and 9^th, 32 people attend the Mighty Microgreens and Super Sprouts classes to discover the methods and benefits of growing these nutritionally dense foods at home. Attendees were given the opportunity to sample fresh microgreens and sprouts that were grown at our Kenton County extension office and received seeds to take home to try growing.

Key survey data from the attendees indicated that only 10% had grown sprouts/microgreens at home before. 61% said they planned on purchasing seeds to grow sprouts and microgreens and 84% stated that they currently grow food at home or have done so in the past. Of those who had children under 18 living in their household, 60% said that they will or would consider using what they learned in this class to teach them about growing sprouts and microgreens. Finally, nearly 22% of attendees stated that they do not have outdoor growing space. This statistic is particularly important because growing sprouts is an easy way to grow food in a typical indoor home environment with minimal inputs required. Urban dwellers disproportionally have less space and as a result, often have less access or opportunities to grow food outdoors. Growing sprouts and microgreens at home can help reduce barriers to growing highly nutritional food at a low cost, subject to the seed chosen. Further, 81% of attendees believed that growing microgreens can be a useful way to supplement fresh food in their diet, supporting this theory. According to 2019 research from FeedingAmerica.org, 11.4% of Kenton County’s population is food insecure or approximately 18,960 people and 59% of the county population is SNAP eligible. (FeedingAmerica.org)

Sources:

https://map.feedingamerica.org/county/2019/overall/kentucky/county/kenton