Expanded Community Farm Visit Program for Youth

Project Overview

YENC24-208
Project Type: Youth Educator
Funds awarded in 2024: $5,960.00
Projected End Date: 02/15/2026
Grant Recipient: Sola Gratia Farm
Region: North Central
State: Illinois
Project Manager:
Traci Barkley
Sola Gratia Farm

Commodities

No commodities identified

Practices

No practices identified

Proposal abstract:

Sola Gratia Farm (SGF), a
nonprofit, sustainable farm, regularly offers educational farm
tours to local school and youth groups. The farm will expand the
content of these visits for older students with hands-on
activities to provide deeper understanding of sustainable
agricultural practices such as organic plant start production,
crop diversity and rotation, and soil health and preservation for
long-term land use and viability. The farm will also develop a
new segment of farm visits that explores both career
opportunities and food sovereignty to give youth a stronger
understanding of the farm and our partners’ work.

Project objectives from proposal:

  1. Design expanded and enhanced
    sustainable agriculture education opportunities, including farm
    field trips and hands-on agriculture education activities, for
    youth in local schools and youth programs;
  2. Provide localized and relevant
    agriculture experience and career awareness opportunities to
    40+ local youth, especially those already interested in
    sustainable agriculture;
  3. Develop age-appropriate,
    interactive and replicable educational materials to be featured
    on SGF’s learning farm.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.