Progress 11/01/23 to 10/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:We reached a diverse array of target audiences in the second year of the Growing Grant County project.? Grant County food shelf clients and the food shelf manager. One of the grant objectives is to increase the amount of food that is grown and produced in Grant County that is available to residents who are food insecure. A second goal is to increase the shelf life of food available in Grant County. Students. Students from both Ashby and WCA gained hands-on experiential learning in plant science and growing methods in classrooms, the mobile food processing trailer, greenhouse operations, and school garden plots and orchards. Older students are also assisting with the Thrifty Food Survey, gathering and tracking grocery prices on a monthly basis. The Ashby and WCA School Ag Instructors. The Ag instructors attended the Minnesota Association of Agricultural Educators Conference, a gathering of more than 30 high school agriculture instructors, which included a professional development workshop. The teachers also coordinated a training session hosted by MDA meat inspectors to teach instructors how to design learning labs for meat processing that are safe for the students and the end users of the meat products. The teachers continued to create and broaden coursework curriculum development (plant production and greenhouse operations) which has been enhanced through the support of community members, including local fruit and vegetable farmers and local agronomists providing nutrient and pest control advice and demonstrations to students. The local community of Grant County residents. Outreach included hosting an open house for the newly-opened greenhouse at West Central Area School.Gaining community buy-in, participation, and ownership will create a deeply established system of local food production and consumption. The Growing Grant County Advisory Board. This group was created to support ongoing fundraising activities for GGC's community fund. We further identified possible donors for this project, such as the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Minnesota Department of Education, Lakes Country Service Cooperative, and area residents. Technical service providers included workers from the local meat locker, Minnesota Department of Agriculture staff, and UMN Extension staff focusing on food safety and safe food handling practices who are assisting us in developing our SOPs. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, MN GreenCorps Member We secured a GreenCorps service member (Meadow Christenson) through the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, anAmericorps program hosted by ServeMN. Dr. Hikaru Peterson, University of Minnesota, Dept. of Applied Economics. Dr. Peterson continued her support for this project throughout 2023 and 2024 Changes/Problems: The trailer was delivered in March 2024 due to supply chain issues, andneeded significant repairs upon its arrivalto be operable. Thus, it was not available for students in the 2023-2024 school year. $50,000 in funding was awarded by the Minnesota Department of Education. Carl Perkins Funding provided $10,250 for 2 freeze dryers. A reverse osmosis system is neededat both schools to account for the minerals in the water, which are causing issues in the greenhouse and trailer. Hydroponics systems that were growing fresh vegetables needed significant repairs and replacement after only 1-2 years of use. In-kind donations provided by Lakes Country Service Cooperative include a refrigerated delivery truck and two walk-in coolers. Ashby School District will receive the refrigerated truck and assume responsibility for its maintenance and repairs. We continue to explore ways to store the coolers since neither school has the space available to set them up on their premises. The Minnesota Department of Health has caused delays in approving meat donations to the food shelf. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has been working to resolve this roadblock. Kate Mudge resigned from WCI and co-Project Director Jill Amundson assumed the role of Project Director. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? In 2024, a meat conference was hosted by the Minnesota Association of Ag Educators, which included a workshop on "How to setup a classroom for safe, legal processing of meat." In the summer of 2024, the Ag Instructors attended a 3-day workshop on meat processing, participating in hands-on training by college meat processing instructors. In addition, Ag Teachers attended the Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) Education Program, which works with Minnesota's produce farmers to develop and implement on-farm food safety plans and prepare for GAPs audits. WCI staff attended monthly gleaning meetings hosted by the Association of Gleaning Organizations WCA Schools has been engaged in monthly meetings with stakeholders in the meat processing industry throughout Minnesota, known as the Meat Processing Working Group. This has created strong relationships with meat-cutting instructors, butchers, meat inspection staff, and other key leaders working to provide the best training opportunities possible. The Greencorps Service Member (Americorps) has been trained by Growing Grant County educators as an instructor to student greenhouse managers. She will also be receiving HASP How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The Greenhouse has hosted a few public viewings and featured the Growing Grant County project and its partners. Attendees beyond Grant County residents has included the Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture, the National FFA President, a Penn State professor and head of World Food Prize Global Guides, the Lions International President, and Senator Amy Klobuchar. Regional local newspapers have provided extensive reporting on the Growing Grant County, utilizing a press release created by WCI and including interviews with multiple stakeholders. Articles were published in the Grant County Herald and AgWeek, among other local papers. The Growing Grant County project has been presented at the MN Association of Ag Educators Ag Tech Conference, and the National Association of Ag Educators hosted a national conference in which Grant County educators met with a former ag instructor who taught meat processing in a Phoenix high school. The local FFA chapters have hosted multiple "Coffee and Corduroy" community updates, providing highlights to attendees. Ashby and WCA schools have included project updates in their Board Updates reports. WCI created marketing collateral (digital and print fliers) for the project, authored a blog, and has a page dedicated to the Growing Grant Project on its website. The Growing Grant County Fund donation page is live on WCI's website. In the current reporting period, it has received $5,100 in donations. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Over the next twelve months, the collaborative partners in the Growing Grant County project intend to accomplish the following goals: Distribute and analyze a survey of Grant County residents' grocery purchase habits and decision-making. Analyze the price fluctuations of Grant County grocery stores. Utilize the food processing trailer and incorporate it into an expanded curriculum. Utilize freeze dryers to process small batch crops (for instance, 5-10 tomatoes harvested daily in the winter can more easily be saved for use at the food shelf if freeze-dried and stored until a large volume has been freeze-dried.) Utilize freeze dryers to expand capacity (over 200 dozen ears of sweet corn were left in the field due to overproduction at the season's peak. This summer, those will be harvested, and kernels will be freeze-dried to have a supply in the winter months.) USDA-inspected meat cuts used in class will be processed under the "Retail Exempt" status and donated to the food shelves, and will include the Department of Health's tracking requirements while maintaining the privacy of the food shelf participants. Larger scaling of production will develop as student greenhouse managers test plant species, varieties, and production systems. The plot size of the school gardens in Ashby will be increased and the high tunnel will be made functional to increase the expanded growth and production of produce. Additional hydroponic equipment is being built to begin lettuce production at Ashby (space and grow lights have been secured.) The Grant County food shelf (and clients) will begin receiving an expanded selection of fresh produce and meat,due to increased production at both schools. The gleaning program will launch in 2025, allowing for additional donations of fresh produce to be collected and processed by students through the use of a new online tool called GivePulse. WCI will work to secure a GreenCorps member to support the Growing Grant County operational needs. Fundraising efforts will continue, with the support of the Advisory Committee and continued grant submissions (including the Minnesota Department of Education Innovations in Service Learning Grant, among others.) Continued partnerships will be developed with stakeholders and community members, including outreach efforts to volunteers (growers, gleaners, delivery drivers, etc.), donors, and food shelf recipients. Evaluate the nutritional content of food dispersed at the Grant County Food Shelf prior to and after the Growing Grant County project.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
One major accomplishment to highlight this past year is the delivery of the mobile food processing trailer. This was a major celebration, as we experienced some challenges during the custom buildout process which delayed the trailer delivery. Finally students were able to utilize the trailer for classroom learning and the public has been invited to view it as well. West Central Initiative created the Growing Grant County Fund, and an Advisory Committee met quarterly to guide the project and raise additional funds. Two MEAT grants awarded by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to Ashby Public School and West Central Area Schools, $50,000 and $35,000 respectively. Grant funds were used to renovate and supply classrooms designated as food processing room. The project also hosted Senator Amy Klobuchar this fall, who toured the greenhouse, trailer, and Gro-shed. Key project partners from the Grant County Food Shelf, Lions International, City of Barrett, and both school Superintendents spent 45 minutes discussing the origin of the project with the Senator, who learned about the incredible support provided by community fundraising, the USDA NIFA Community Food Projects grant, and some of the challenges we've faced, such as the unanticipated need for a reverse osmosis system due to hard water clogging up equipment. The Senator suggested that we might work collaboratively with her office to request an earmark appropriation request for the system, saying it was a "no-brainer." Senator Klobuchar also really enjoyed the freeze-dried apples that the students made from trees in their orchards Summary Statistics show the following: 100 students at WCA High School engaged in the operation of the greenhouse, GroShed, and tower gardens 50 WCA third-grade students learned through using grow towers and harvesting weekly meals they consume and share with others throughout the school due to overproduction. More than 100 high school students between the two schools have participated in the schools' greenhouse, gardens and orchards during the past growing season Student participation in Plant Science courses has increased to more than 30 in 2024, compared to just two students in 2017 Each school was able to donate grown and processed produce, some fr. Ashby had a total of 1,500 pounds of food donated to the food shelf during the reporting period, which included apples, pumpkins, green beans, squash, garden lettuce, and tomatoes. West Central Area sent 750 pounds of apples to the food shelf and another 350 pounds to the school lunch program, 700 ears (approximately 900 pounds) of sweetcorn to the food shelf, and fifty 1-quart bags of freeze-dried apples to the food shelf.
Publications
|
Progress 11/01/22 to 10/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience: We reached various target audiences in the first year of the Growing Grant County project, including: Grant County food shelf clients and the food shelf manager. One of the grant objectives is to increase the amount of food that is grown and produced in Grant County that is available to residents who are food insecure. A second goal is to increase the shelf life of food available in Grant County. We provided surveys to both food shelf clients and the food shelf manager to provide us with baseline data on the types of food currently available to clients at the food shelves so that we can track how much additional locally grown, healthy produce and protein is provided to the food shelf through this project. Students. Students gained hands-on experiential learning in plant science and growing methods in both the greenhouse and school garden plots. The Ashby and WCA School Ag Instructors. The Ag teachers attended the Ag Teacher Conference, a gathering of more than 30 high school agriculture instructors, which included a professional development workshop. The teachers also coordinated a training session hosted by MDA meat inspectors to teach instructors how to design learning labs for meat processing that are safe for the students and the end users of the meat products. The teachers also focused on curriculum development (plant production and greenhouse operations) which has been enhanced through the support of community members, including local fruit and vegetable farmers and local agronomists providing nutrient and pest control advice and demonstrations to students. The local community of Grant County residents. Outreach included hosting an open house for the newly-opened greenhouse at West Central Area School. We also worked with local media for a press release announcing NIFA's support for the Growing Grant County project. Gaining community buy-in, participation, and ownership will create a deeply established system of local food production and consumption. The Growing Grant County Advisory Board. This group was created to support ongoing fundraising activities for GGC's community fund. We further identified possible donors for this project, such as the Ag Boosters and Lions Club. Technical service providers included workers from the local meat locker, Minnesota Department of Agriculture staff, and UMN Extension staff focusing on food safety and safe food handling practices who are assisting us in developing our SOPs. WCA Intern. An educational intern who worked for the WCA Ag Education Department in the summer of 2023 was able to learn about and assist in the summer operation of the greenhouse, orchard, and sweet corn plot. This intern experienced the entirety of the summer programming related to this project and can take that experience with them as they develop their own Ag Education program in the future. Changes/Problems:Due to ongoing supply chain issues, the custom food processing trailer is not expected to be completed and delivered until Spring 2024. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In 2023, a meat conference was hosted by the Minnesota Association of Ag Educators, which included a workshop on "How to setup a classroom for safe, legal processing of meat." An advanced workshop will be offered in 2024 for teachers who have started to teach meat processing and want more help and advice. In the summer of 2023, the Ag Instructors attended a 3-day workshop on meat processing, participating in hands-on training by college meat processing instructors. In addition, Ag Teachers attended the Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) Education Program, which works with Minnesota's produce farmers to develop and implement on-farm food safety plans and prepare for GAPs audits. WCI staff attended the Midwest Climate Resilience Conference in Duluth, Minnesota in late 2023 and presented a symposium on how climate planning is conducted in rural areas, highlighting the Growing Grant County project as an example. WCA Schools hasbeen engaged in monthly meetings with stakeholders in the meat processing industry throughout Minnesota, known as the Meat Processing Working Group. This has created strong relationships with meat-cutting instructors, butchers, meat inspection staff, and other key leaders working to provide the best training opportunities possible. Future collaboration with programs such as Central Lakes College and Ridgewater College to provide training experiences, articulation agreements, How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The Greenhouse Grand Opening was hosted at WCA and attendees included the Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture, the National FFA President, a Penn State professor and head of World Food Prize Global Guides, and the Lions International President. Regional local newspapers have provided extensive reporting on the Growing Grant County, utilizing a press release created by WCI and including interviews with multiple stakeholders. Articles were published in the Grant County Herald and AgWeek, among other local papers. The Growing Grant County project has been presented at the MN Association of Ag Educators Ag Tech Conference and the National Association of Ag Educators hosted a national conference, in which Grant County educators met with a former ag instructor who taught meat processing in a Phoenix high school. The local FFA chapters have hosted 3 "Coffee and Corduroy" community updates, providing highlights to attendees. Senator Amy Klobuchar toured the west center MN region and requested a tour of the WCA greenhouse. This will be scheduled in 2024, once the food processing trailer is delivered and is operational. Ashby and WCA schools have included project updates in their Board Updates reports. WCI created marketing collateral (digital and print fliers) for the project, authored a blog, and has a page dedicated to the Growing Grant Project on its website. The Growing Grant County Funddonation page is live on WCI's website. Cenex and the Farmers Cooperative Oil of Elbow Lake and Wendell, MN, awarded the West Central Ag Boosters with a $25,000 Hometown Pride Grant in support of Growing Grant County and shared this story. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Over the next twelve months the collaborative partners in the Growing Grant County project intend to accomplish the following goals: Receive delivery of the food processing trailer and incorporate it into an expanded curriculum. A grand opening is planned for 2024. Utilize freeze dryers to processsmall batch crops (for instance, 5-10 tomatoes harvested daily in the winter can more easily be saved for use at the food shelf if freeze-dried and stored until a large volume has been freeze-dried.) Utilize freeze dryers to expand capacity (over 200 dozen ears of sweet corn were left in the field due to overproduction at the season's peak. Thissummer, those will be harvested, and kernels will be freeze-dried to have a supply in the winter months.) The GroShed (greenhouse) needed major equipment repairs in 2023. Students are almost finished repairing this system, which will be back up and running by February 2024, producing 30-40 heads of lettuce weekly. USDA-inspected meat cuts used in class will be processed under the "Retail Exempt" status and donated to the food shelves. Larger scaling of production will develop as student greenhouse managers test plant species, varieties, and production systems. Interest has been brought forward that all WCA 1st grade teachers would like to secure their own grow towers to expand food production education further. The plot size of the school gardens in Ashby will be increasedand the high tunnel will be made functionalto increase the expanded growth and production of produce. Additional hydroponic equipment will be secured to begin lettuce production at Ashby (space and grow lights have been secured.) The Grant County foodshelf (and clients) will begin receiving an expanded selection of fresh produce and meat, due to increased production at both schools. The gleaning program will launch in 2024, allowing for additional donations of fresh produce to be collected and processed by students through the use of a new online tool called GivePulse. WCI will work to secure a GreenCorp member to support the Growing Grant County operational needs. Fundraising efforts will continue, with the support of the Advisory Committee and continued grant submissions (including the Minnesota Department of Education Innovations in Service Learning Grant, among others.) Continued partnerships will be developed with stakeholders and community members, including outreach efforts to volunteers, donors, and food shelf recipients.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Grant County, Minnesota, is recognized as a food desert, with over 25% of residents considered low-income. An estimated 600 individuals (out of a total population of 6,000) utilize food shelves that have difficulty securing fresh produce and protein for their clients. The Growing Grant County project will help solve these issues by creating opportunities, via a mobile food processing trailer, for two local schools to teach students how to process and preserve meat and vegetables, which will then be donated to the local food shelves. This project has many groups that this work will impact. 600 Grant County residents served by local food shelves and hunger-relief programs will be provided access to locally sourced, nutrient-dense vegetables, meat, and fruits year-round. Food shelves will have increased access to healthy foods donated by the schools. Farmers and growers in and around Grant County will have expanded options to a new local market to sell or donate their products to be processed by the students. Ag educators will be able to offer additional curriculum focusing on meat and vegetable processing to their students, as well as a physical space that is food-safe in which to teach the students. And residents will be offered the opportunity to donate their garden produce and will be offered community education classes focused on food production and preservation. One major accomplishment to highlight is that funds were raised to buildthe greenhouse at West Central Area School. Construction is complete, and the first year of production is underway. Various plants are growing, including peppers, tomatoes, beets, cucumbers, squash, strawberries, basil, thyme, broccoli, cabbage, and herbs. Students are receiving education ingrowing methods, and an expanded food science curriculum has been developed. Student enrollment has dramatically increased, which now include two full sections of Plant Science courses with over 30 students. Another major accomplishment is that the customized food processing wasordered and is currently being built, with a delivery expected in early Spring 2024. In the interim, the schools have received a donated refrigerated truck and two walk-in coolers from Lakes County Service Cooperative. With the assistance of UMN Extension staff, a comprehensive list of Standard Operating Procedures has been developed, which will be shared with the students when the trailer arrives and is in use. West Central Initiative created the Growing Grant County Fund, and an Advisory Committee has been assembled to assist withongoing efforts to raise donations for future funding needs. Additional funds were secured through the Minnesota Department of Agriculture Meat Grants, Perkins-funded freeze dryers, and Esser-funded grow towers at WCA. A partnership with CHS to start an ½ acre sweet corn plot was devised, and over 200 dozen ears of corn were donated to Grant County Food Shelf in 2023. There are also plans to increase the school garden area at Ashby and make the high tunnel usable by this spring, with plans to grow tomatoes, peppers, green beans, cucumbers, raspberries, and squash. A gleaning program is being developed with the Center for Small Towns at UM Morris. The platform for volunteer recruitment and donor opportunities is called GivePulse and will serve as an online portal that people can use to advertise their excess produce and for volunteers to sign up for gleaning events. Fifty food shelf client surveys were distributed, collected, and analyzed, providing a "baseline" for the project on what current items available are considered "fresh and healthy." The Grant County Foodshelf Manager survey was also developed and completed, allowing us to track the increase in donated foods from this project. Summary Statistics show the following: 100 students at WCA High School engaged in the operation of the greenhouse, GroShed, and tower gardens 8 Greenhouse Managers operating all grow systems and making most of the day-to-day management decisions 50 WCA 3rd grade students learned through using grow towers and harvesting weekly meals they consume and share with others throughout the school due to overproduction. 75 students at Ashby engaged in managing the garden and apple orchard during the growing season Student participation in Plant Science courses at WCA increased to more than 30 in 2023, compared to just two students in 2017 Major steps were initiated, such as completing the greenhouse and running the first test operations (trying out different crops throughout the year) before entering a full-scale production system. Students have been engaged in this process, especially through the training and implementation of greenhouse managers.Community buy-in, participation, and ownership arecreating the foundation for a deeply established local food production and consumption system.
Publications
|