Success StoryGrowing Fruit and Vegetables in a large school garden utilized by the school food service



Growing Fruit and Vegetables in a large school garden utilized by the school food service

Author: Glen Roberts

Planning Unit: Wayne County CES

Major Program: Horticulture, Commercial

Plan of Work: Using school garden and raised beds to facilitate nutrition education

Outcome: Long-Term Outcome

Collaborators: Glen Roberts, ANR agent, Terry Bertram, ANR assistant, Danny Adams, KSU Small Farm Assistant, Justin Horton, FFA Adviser/VoAg instructor, Kathryn Tucker, School Food Service Director, Master Gardeners, VoAg and FCS students. Situation:  Today`s youth are unaware how their food is grown.  School cafeterias struggle to provide fresh nutritious, affordable locally grown vegetables for their food service.  The ANR agent approached a school board member and the superintendent about beginning a school garden harvested in the fall.  They and the school food service director were receptive of the idea.  The ANR agent, Small Farm Assistant, and VoAg instructor teamed up to grow and harvest the first 1/2 garden and supply the produce to the school food service to be used in the cafeterias.  It was very successful and has now completed 10 seasons and grown to a 4 acre garden.  The garden is in walking distance for the students to be able to harvest and help with the fruit and vegetable production that occurs after school begins in the fall semester. The ANR agent has 40 years experience growing and marketing produce.  That experience helped him to be able to grow the transplants needed and how to schedule planting in the field for the produce to be ready for harvest when the students return from summer vacation.  The students harvest the produce and it is delivered to the 5 school cafeterias to be utilized there.  The school food service workers and the ANR agent have a Facebook page to facilitate communication about what produce is available to use including date and quantity. This year they grew grape tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, cantaloupe, watermelons, sweet corn, potatoes, and peppers.  This year we added a weed barrier between melon rows that decreased weed competition and increased yields and quality.  We also grew one acre of pumpkins supplying over 1500 five pound pumpkins to pre-school through third grade students.  The Vocational Agriculture students helped harvest the pumpkins and deliver them to a grassy lot near the schools for the students to select their very own pumpkin.  They also sold 500 white pumpkins to a local roadside market for an FFA fundraiser.  They also gave more than a total of 1000 pumpkins to the local Head Start, Immanuel Church Academy, Otter Creek Academy and several more churches and community organizations.  Due to COVID-19 they were unable to use the sweetcorn in the cafeterias.  The FFA sold the sweetcorn at the local Farmers Market along with other extra produce.  This was a tremendous boost to the local farmers market that suffered from lack of vendors due to concerns about COVID. They raised over $4,000 for the FFA to use to support contests and scholarships.  Some of the produce that could not be used in the school food service due to COVID restrictions was given to families as they came to pick up school lunches for the students when they were on a virtual learning schedule.  No produce was wasted.  They also took produce to the local food pantry and to the local detention center.   Even though they were not always having in person school the students volunteered to come and harvest produce to donate to the local food pantry and for families to take home when they picked up school lunches for the students on virtual learning schedule.  More importantly, students have leaned more about how vegetables and fruits are grown.  They have gained skills and are better informed. The school food service workers say that they have observed the students eating significantly more fresh vegetables and fruits as a result of the school garden project.  They have also taken ownership of the garden which has become something they are proud to be a part of.  The community has also embraced the school garden with a sense of pride as well.  We have testimonials from parents and grandparents saying that the students are eating more fruits and vegetables at home as well.  The total amount of produce that was used in the cafeteria, sold as a fund raiser for FFA programs, given to families as they came to pick up their students meals, and that given away to the local food pantry and detention center was around $12,000.  This was about 60% of the past few years. The uncertainty of the situation caused us to plant a little less and planting later resulted in lower yields.  Over all we had amazing results considering the situation.   We did not plant potatoes this year, but the rest of the school garden is pretty much just as usual.  We expect to be able to begin harvesting produce from the school garden in late August.  









Stories by Glen Roberts


Group Purchasing Beef IRM mineral

about 2 years ago by Glen Roberts

Collaborators: UK Beef IRM Nutrition Specialists, KY Farm Bureau Federation, Wayne County Farm Burea... Read More


Growing Fruit and Vegetables in a large school garden utilized by the school food service

about 2 years ago by Glen Roberts

Collaborators: Glen Roberts, ANR agent, Terry Bertram, ANR assistant, Danny Adams, KSU Small Farm As... Read More


Stories by Wayne County CES


Extension Homemaker Leadership Trainings

about 2 years ago by Deborah Shepherd

Strong leadership skills are important for a vital Extension Homemaker program. Twenty-eight Wayne C... Read More


Food Preservation

about 2 years ago by Deborah Shepherd

Fourteen students participated in Food Preservation Workshops. Pressure Canning and Water Bath Canni... Read More


Stories by Horticulture, Commercial


Delivering of information on sampling and studies on the South American Palm Weevil for Dominican Republic

about 2 years ago by Raul Villanueva

I was solicited to present in-person however to avoid risk this task was conducted online using zoom... Read More


Ambrosia beetles in nursery and fruit Detection, Identification and management

about 2 years ago by Raul Villanueva

Ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) are boring insects that inoculate species s... Read More