Abbotsford ag department uses greenhouse, garden and test plot for education
Students at the Abbotsford School District taking agriculture classes at Abbotsford High have the opportunity to take classes where they can work in the greenhouse, plant and harvest vegetables from the garden next to the greenhouse or have some input in the 17 acre land lab where corn and soybeans are grown on a rotational basis each year.
Students in the seventh grade take a nine week course in learning about the growth of plants and the greenhouse and garden gives students the opportunity to study plant growth involving research projects and plant harvest and process vegetables grown in the garden.
Vegetables grown in the garden include about one hundred tomato plants, sixty pepper plants, 60 cabbage plants and also carrots, onions, potatoes, beans and peas.
The tomatoes and peppers are cut up and given to students, or are used in the school lunch program. The cabbages are cut up and made into sauerkraut.
Students taking horticulture and introduction to agri-science classes also use the greenhouse for learning about the growth of plants, but also have the opportunity to grow a crop of poinsettas in the fall, Easter lilies in the winter and bedding plants in the spring. In addition to learning how to grow a poinsettia crop, students learn how to wrap plants to sell, and also how to market the plants to many churches, businesses and individuals in the Abbotsford area and the surrounding communities.
Students in these classes learn about the principles of gardening and also about the knowledge needed to successfully grow a corn or soybean crop on about 17 acres of land managed by the agriculture department.
This past year, a crop of corn was grown and this coming spring, soybeans will be planted.
Although students aren’t directly involved in the planting and harvesting of the crop, they do study tillage practices, selection of seed varieties, planting practices, population rates, fertilizer requirements, weed control, environmental factors like rainfall and temperature, disease and insect control, harvesting practices and marketing information.
