Progress 03/01/08 to 06/30/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The hydroponics gardening systems were left at the high school at the end of the project. The high school vocational classes plan to continue to use the systems to teach hydroponic growing methods. Procedures for growing vegetables hydroponically in a vocational greenhouse were developed. Vegetable yield never reached the capacity to provide several servings of vegetable for each student/family in the study. Cost data on growing vegetables hydroponically in a vocational greenhouse were recorded. Data related to obesity indices was collected five times, and the results analyzed statistically. PARTICIPANTS: Participants included the Career and Technical Education students and teachers at a rural high school. The students and teachers were trained on how to use hydroponic gardening systems to grow lettuces and tomatoes. The high school collaborated with Tennessee Tech Universrity to allow the research to be conducted in the vocational greenhouse. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience was rural high school students enrolled in Career and Technical Education classrooms. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of consumption of hydroponically grown vegetables on obesity indices such as Body Mass Index. The students were given various amounts of lettuces and tomatoes to take home for consumption with their families. Food habits were analyzed using a Food Frequency questionnaire during five data points. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: There were no major project modifications; the growing process was much slower than anticipated and therefore yield was much lower than expected, but we did not change the objectives of the study.
Impacts
The growing process for hydroponic vegetables in a vocational greenhouse was much slower, and more complicated than originally planned for. Although tomatoes and lettuces were eventually successfully grown, the yield was never enough for all the participants to have produce on a daily basis. The cost analysis revealed that the payback period was 8 years for the tomatoes, and 2400 pounds would have to be produced. In reality the hydroponic system would be prohibitive for a vocational greenhouse, unless the equipment and supplies were donated. The hydroponic growing procedures were more time consuming and fell outside of the regular classroom activites for Career and Technical Education classes. Consumption of the produce did not statistically impact obesity indices in this population.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 03/01/08 to 02/28/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The hydroponics gardening equipment has been installed at the High School. The installation process took 2 months, as we had to modify the systems purchased to operate in a greenhouse environment. We started heirloom tomato seeds last June, but did not get any yield from them, so we started regular hybrid tomato seeds and are having better yields. We attempted to grow heirloom squash, green peppers, eggplant, and spinach but these have not been successful in our hydroponics systems. We have successfully grown regular hybrid green leaf lettuces from seed. We are documenting the processes to maintain the hydroponics systems, and the yield from each plant. We have had one distribution of produce to participating families. So far, we have not been able to establish a large enough yield of produce to have consistent distributions to families. We have collected demographic information from participating students and their families. We have collected Stages of Change information, BMI and food intake data three times since last May. We have conducted one focus group with students. There has been no dissemination of data to date. PARTICIPANTS: The project investigators, Anderson and Branson, have collaborated with the vocational teacher to install the hydroponics equipment and refine the growing processes. The hydroponics vendor has provided limited support. TTU Faculty have provided expertise in qualitiative research and statistical analysis as outlined in the budget. No indiviudal or partner has been added to the project. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience is high school vocational students in a rural county. Thirty students are participating in the project. They have provided demographic, BMI, and food intake data on three separate dates since the beginnning of the project. They have received instruction in growing vegetables using a hydroponics gardening system. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: A major change would be the delay in achieving consistent produce distributions to the families. The process for installing the systems and understanding the growing procedures has taken longer than initially planned for.
Impacts
Change in knowledge: we are documenting the processes, procedures and costs of installing and maintaining a hydroponics gardening system in a vocational high school program. We have faced many challenges in learning how the hydroponics systems work best, and we have adjusted from growing heirloom seeds (which did not produce any yield) to growing regular hybrid seeds. We have encountered more problems with pests than we counted on, and we have had to learn how to hand-pollinate some plants as there are no natural pollinators in the greenhouse. Change in actions: originally we thought the vocational students would have more access to learning how to grow the hydroponic vegetables, but their access has been limited due to class time. We also learned after the fact they they could not handle any of the chemicals (nutrients and pesticides) used in maintaining the systems so that aspect has been the responsiblity of the researchers and vocational teacher. We planned to have had several produce distributions by this point in the project, but the growing process has been much slower than we thought.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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