AppHarvest and the United States Department of Agriculture announced the expansion of the company’s educational high-tech container farm program for Eastern Kentucky high school students, unveiling a new container farm unit at Breathitt High School in Jackson.
The program demonstrates the company’s ongoing commitment to fostering interest in high-tech farming, as it seeks to create America’s AgTech capital from within Appalachia. The program demonstrates the company’s ongoing commitment to fostering interest in high-tech farming, as it seeks to create America’s AgTech capital from within Appalachia.
The retrofitted shipping container will serve as a hands-on agricultural classroom for students at Breathitt High School, allowing them to grow and provide fresh leafy greens to their classmates and those in need in and around Jackson.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture provided the majority of funding for the unit through its Community Facilities grants program. The educational container farm’s arrival was formally celebrated Friday, Jan. 15, with U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development State Director Hilda Legg and Appalachian Regional Commission Federal Co-Chairman Tim Thomas among those attending.
Attendees toured the container farm and learned about its high-tech tools. “This amazing project will not only put fresh vegetables on the table, but, more importantly, it will teach tomorrow’s agribusiness leaders — and do all of that right here in Eastern Kentucky,” Legg said. “This public-private partnership is exactly what we need more of, and I’m proud to have been a part of it.”
Read more at WTVQ (S. Rogers)