R.L. Turner High School was named a recipient of the Learning from the Ground Up garden grant from the Texas Farm Bureau for 2020 as announced by the organization earlier this week.
Thirty-nine grants were awarded to schools and educational programs across the Lone Star State for their projects that help increase agricultural literacy and awareness.
“These grants help teachers, parents and volunteer leaders get students outside and learning about agriculture,” Jordan Walker, TFB director of Educational Outreach, said. “The hands-on experiences from the various projects help students better understand classroom concepts and grow an understanding of food production.”
Projects include establishing or improving school gardens, raised beds, greenhouses and outdoor classrooms that provide students with hands-on, experiential learning about agriculture and food production.
“It allows our students a hands on opportunity to find out where their food comes from,” Shannon Miller, R.L. Turner Vocational Agriculture teacher said. “So we’re in the beginning process, we’re looking at the evaluation process of growing crops through hydroponics, which is what the grant purchased, and the crops that are grown in the ground. We’re trying to come up with alternative ways to supply nutrients for food products to a growing society in a time where we’re running out of land.”
Miller continued, “The students will devise a plan of what they’re going to grow based on the survey that we give out to the staff. They’re going to devise a plan of how they’re going to implement it, whether they grow using a garden bed or using the hydroponic system – because certain crops grow better in the ground vs. the hydroponics. Then, the food that they produce they’ll market and sell as microgreen salads to the staff.
It’s a huge step into the field of crop production. Our program mainly focuses on either Ag mechanics or the animal aspect, but with our society becoming more health conscious it’s nice for them to know what it takes effort wise, and financially, to go into the production of crops for society.
It allows our students to see what they consume on a daily basis and where it’s coming from and makes them more aware of their products versus what they see advertised.
I’d like to thank R.L. Turner Principal Brook Hall for providing this and allowing me to branch outside the animal industry. I appreciate the support from Jo Gillen our Career & Technical Director for always allowing us to try new Ideas out, and for the Texas Farm Bureau for providing opportunities for us to be able to do this. I’d also like to thank the Texas FFA for notifying us about these opportunities.”