Home Grown: Gary Knox agriculture farm

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - In tonight’s Homegrown report, one local elementary school is embracing Yuma County’s famous winter vegetable season, by educating students about Yuma’s agriculture industry.

All hands on deck at Gary Knox Elementary School, where local agriculture organizations are making sure students know how crops get from the farm to the table.

“When we first started this program, so many kids didn’t understand (where their food came from) they thought it came from Walmart or Albertsons, the grocery store, so now they’re fully understanding how much work goes into providing food for them and their families,” said Gary Knox Elementary School Ag teacher, Ann Ogram.

The 11th season of Knox Farm, at Gary Knox Elementary is in full swing, with leafy greens already sprouting out of the dirt.

“We plant seeds and then like we put down the pipes and stuff and we dig and take out weeds and sometimes we even water the plants,” said fourth-grade student, Delylah Mundy.

One student shares why she likes the program so much.

“My favorite part about agriculture is probably eating because she made zucchini that we grow here and iceberg lettuce,” said Mundy.

Another fourth-grade student, Stella Velasquez says she has enjoyed growing up, with the garden.

“I’ve been here since kindergarten, so I’ve just been growing with the garden and helping,” fourth-grade student, Stella Velasquez.

The Gary Knox agriculture teacher says the farm is modeled after a real-life agricultural program.

Teaching the students what challenges farmers face, first hand.

“Today we’re having to do some re-planting, we had some romaine seed that didn’t take, so that’s one of those life lessons that sometimes, things don’t always go perfectly for our farmers and we need to make sure that their learning about agriculture in real life,” said Mrs. Ogram.

Mrs. Orgam and her students plan to host a farmers market, for you to shop at when the produce is harvested.