The River Falls school farm has provided a hands-on learning opportunity that most schools cannot provide, and those lessons have been taught alongside a focus on sustainable practices in the field.
The farm is about 40 acres of land that includes 35 acres used for row crops and the remaining portion used for an array of fruits, vegetables and flowers. The school's agriculture department is also getting involved in Earth Fest at UWRF, with students growing lettuce in their growing towers to be given out to attendees. The towers are inside the school, with special lighting and nutrient modules to allow growth of butterhead and romaine lettuce hydroponically.
"Those grow towers we're growing the lettuce in, they're a part of the sustainable agriculture goal because they are grown indoors with an LED light, and they're not in the ground. A lot of people have concerns about there being runoff into waters that we're using manures or fertilizers or anything. With that, it's a contained space, so it's not getting into those river waters, it's not going into our drains," senior Morgan Matheson said.
The school has 10 of the indoor growing towers, with both the lettuce and some cut flowers growing in them. They can control the environment in the contained units, providing a big advantage compared to the randomness of an outdoor environment. The students do it all, measuring pH, nutrients and light duration to make the plants grow.
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