National Farm to School Month: MFAI's New Farm to School Project Takes Root in Milwaukee
What can a classroom garden make possible? For Milwaukee teachers, the answers reach well beyond a harvest. They include students gathering around plants, experimenting with recipes, asking engineering questions, and learning hands-on about local food. This October, National Farm to School Month, we're celebrating the launch of a new collaboration to grow opportunities like these!
On October 8, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute (MFAI) welcomed 14 educators to Harold S. Vincent High School of Agricultural Science for a training session launching our new Farm to School partnership with Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). The gathering brought educators, technical trainers, and MFAI staff together to explore how growing food can connect classroom learning with students’ everyday lives. The goal? To make nutrition education accessible and fun.
Partially supported by a two-year USDA Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant, the project brings together MFAI, MPS, Wisconsin Food Hub, Fork Farms Food Access Technology, and local producers. The initiative will reach up to 20 schools during the 2026–2027 school year, expanding to up to 40 schools in 2027–2028. This effort is an expansion of our Milwaukee Urban Agriculture Network initiative.
Dr. Esther S. Durairaj, MFAI’s Education Director and the project’s director, sees the initiative as an opportunity to connect students with their local food system while bringing together the many strands of MFAI’s work.
“This project elevates all that we do at MFAI: working with small and medium scale producers, supporting urban agriculture, championing nutritious food, and fostering science education and student leadership. Connecting hands-on learning about food with science and leadership opportunities, and serving local food in school cafeterias, helps students understand where their food comes from and appreciate the regional producers who bring it to their tables.”
-Dr. Esther S. Durairaj, MFAI Education Director
Participating classrooms will receive a Fork Farms Flex Farm, an indoor, vertical hydroponic growing system that can grow up to 288 plants at a time. Each system runs on a standard electrical outlet, uses a self-contained water system, and occupies less than 10 square feet. Alongside the growing systems, teachers will receive Fork Farms’ K–12 curriculum, which offers STEM lessons, activities, and instructional resources aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards.
Fork Farms, a Wisconsin-based food access technology company, will provide the systems, growing supplies, and training. The company has worked with MPS for six years, and 80 Flex Farms are already in use across the district.
“It was great to see everyone come together to learn and prepare for the Farm to School project. There’s a lot of excitement about getting started, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the project grows across Milwaukee Public Schools.” -Renesha Muchapondwa, MFAI Food & Nutrition Systems Coordinator
At the October 8 training, teachers were trained on Flex Farm operation and maintenance, food safety, harvesting, and ways to connect growing activities with classroom lessons. They also learned about Google Classroom and Farmative resources that will support their work and help participating schools learn from one another. Renesha Muchapondwa, MFAI Food & Nutrition Systems Coordinator, organized the training event and will act as the project's manager.
Several teachers at the training had already integrated the growing systems into their classrooms and shared what growing food has made possible for their students.
At Maryland Avenue Montessori, middle school teacher Dan Graves's students have enjoyed the sense of responsibility and ownership that comes with managing the growing process. Students earn “badges” as they build their growing skills and take on leadership roles, teaching their peers what they have learned. Caring for the plants becomes an opportunity to practice both independence and collaboration.
“To really appreciate something, you have to be able to name it...To have the students connected to this has been pretty magical.” -Dan Graves, Teacher at Maryland Avenue Montessori
At Forest Home Avenue School, fifth-grade teacher Gloria Melendez brings the harvest into her garden club through recipes featuring a 'secret ingredient': whatever students are growing at the time. The harvest becomes a starting point for exploring food stories together, with students helping turn something they have nurtured into something they can prepare and share.
“This has changed my life. I never thought I would be able to grow… my husband is the one with a green thumb. But now, my students know me. They know, when my teacher gets stressed out, she goes over to the pods, and it calms her down.”
-Gloria Melendez, Teacher at Forest Home Avenue School
The growing systems also invite questions about engineering and cultural heritage. Gloria described talking with students about how the growing pods were designed, connecting the plants in front of them with the decisions and problem-solving behind the technology.
Students who garden at home with their parents get excited to bring in new plants to try growing in the towers. It’s an opportunity for children to share their personal heritage while learning and growing alongside their peers.
For Gloria, the experience has been personally meaningful, too. She enjoys tending to the live plants, and spoke to how she goes to them when it's been an especially stressful day. Several other teachers also talked about how having living plants and the “white noise” hum of the growing systems has been calming for them and their students.
“Farm to school gives us the opportunity to care for and be proud of the people, places, and processes behind the food our kids eat; and who, as a result, our kids have the chance to become,” -Sam Odin, owner/operator of Village Farmstead and president of the Milwaukee Food Council.
"Working on the Farm to School project is an exciting opportunity for small farmers that are committed to feeding their families, and schools are a particularly exciting way to connect with our next generation and share the importance and power of demanding locally grown food products for each other." -Christine Johnson, MFAI Farmer Education Coordinator
The initiative also includes a partnership with Wisconsin Food Hub to procure fresh food from local farmers for participating school cafeterias, connecting classroom learning with what students eat at school. Local farmer and Milwaukee Food Council President Sam Odin and MFAI Farmer Education Coordinator Christine Johnson will serve as the principal coordinators between the participating farmers and schools. Christine will help farmers meet food safety and other industry requirements through training and support.
MFAI is seeking additional funding to strengthen and expand this exciting effort, bringing fresh food and practical food education to more students. If you would like to donate to the Milwaukee Urban Agriculture Network and the Farm to School Program, click the button below, or please contact us at hello@michaelfields.org or (262) 642-3303
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