Students have a hand in the process of growing produce from seed to harvest through the Student Farmers Grow and Give program
A third-grade curriculum program turns into an act of community service when students plant, transplant and harvest their own squash to be donated to food pantries and those in need throughout the state. Through the Student Farmers Grow and Give program, partnering all six Washington Township elementary schools with Duffield’s Farm on Chapel Heights Road, in Sewell, students learn about where their food comes from, beginning to end.
The program originated in 2001 through the collaboration of Tracy Duffield of Duffield’s Farm and district liaison and Hurffville Elementary School Principal Jeff Pollock. Originally, Duffield would join the third-grade classes during their science unit to talk about planting and farming. However, her own children were that age during that time, she said, and they would often come home to tell their parents many of their peers were asking questions such as, “do you have electricity on the farm” and “do you drive cars?” Duffield realized the students needed to know more about farming and where their food was coming from.
For the past 16 years, students have been planting seeds each year during late April or early May, the seeds are taken back to the farm to grow in a greenhouse and then students are brought to the farm to transplant the produce into the garden sometime in June. Last week, on July 11, third graders returned to the farm to harvest their squash, which was then collected by Farmers Against Hunger, an organization through the New Jersey Agricultural Society, and delivered to four distribution sites throughout the state. According to the program’s website, www.njagsociety.org, Farmers Against Hunger serves more than 7,000 people per week during the months of June and December.
“Sometimes kids this age, they don’t always understand community service,” Pollock said. “Through this process, they begin to realize some people don’t have food and this is going on someone’s table that same night. It’s a really nice thing for kids to begin to think bigger.”
According to Duffield, between 1,500 pounds and 1,600 pounds of squash will have been harvested this year by the students’ seeds alone. That equates to about 2,000 squash, boxed onsite by Farmers Against Hunger and distributed the same day to locals in need.
“It’s become a tradition for kids to do this, knowing they’re going to help more people,” Pollock said. “We’re always doing community service in Washington Township and this is one more piece in that community service puzzle.”
During the harvest trip, students are treated to a hayride with the opportunity to pick fresh strawberries on the farm. Duffield also reads them a story with an interactive skit, showing how farmers have many trades, such as meteorology, science, veterinary skills and more.
“Knowing where their food comes from is important,” Duffield said. “If they can see firsthand how it doesn’t grow at the supermarket, it grows at a farm, that’s probably one of the biggest benefits.”
Duffield hopes the more the children learn through the program, the more educated they will become about their food and where it comes from as they grow into adults, and possibly have children of their own. Duffield said Duffield’s Farm is preserved by the state, therefore it will still be there when the students get older and have families to share it with.
“Washington Township is no longer a farming community as it once was when I was growing up here, and there are very few family farms left,” Pollock said. “It’s good for the kids to see there are family farms still here, and will be here for many years to come.”
