For several years now, agriculture students at Goochland High School have grown lettuce in the hydroponic units they built and after harvesting, the lettuce has been used on the salad bar in the school cafeteria. In August of 2020, a Babylon vertical hydroponic garden was installed in the culinary arts lab at Goochland Technical Center. The Babylon system was given to Goochland by an anonymous donor to benefit the culinary arts program and the food pantry at Goochland Cares, our community-based support organization. The Babylon system is capable of growing up to eight hundred plants at a time and can be harvested in approximately 6 weeks. A variety of lettuces, herbs, and spices are harvested, packaged, and delivered to Goochland Cares for distribution to the families in our community. A small percentage of the harvests are used by the students in the culinary arts classes. Our newest partnership is with Greenswell Growers, a commercial hydroponic operation that utilizes a horizontal growing system. Thanks to this cutting-edge technology, Greenswell can provide student experiences inside their state-of-the-art facility, teaching students about Controlled Environmental Agriculture (CEA), marketing, operations and logistics, mechatronics, and culinary arts. In addition to partnering with Goochland HIgh school, Greenswell donates products back to Goochland Cares to help our families in need. These partnerships are providing opportunities for our students to participate in activities that utilize state-of-the-art technologies and ultimately is preparing them with twenty-first-century skills. As with other CTE activities, this program makes learning "come alive" for students and brings relevancy to what they are learning in numerous classes.

<strong>Contact: </strong>

Dr. Jeremy Raley, Superintendent

<a href="mailto:jraley@glnd.k12.va.us">jraley@glnd.k12.va.us</a>

804-556-5601