Florida Farm Bureau offers grants to local schools for agriculture, gardening projects

Jan Hollingsworth | Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Florida's teachers have an opportunity to grow their classroom budgets this school year by snagging one of dozens of mini-grants from the Florida Farm Bureau Federation (FFBF) -- but they'd better hurry to beat the Sept 15 application deadline.

The organization is awarding $9,500 in grant money for creative school projects that teach students from Pre-K through high school about the importance of one of the state's top industries.

Core academic subjects like math, English and science are essential to agriculture, and the grants are meant to encourage teachers to incorporate it into their curriculum, says Michael Rogalsky, Field Services Director for the Federation.

"The idea is to familiarize children with where their food comes from," says Debra Jones, Rogalsky's assistant.

Teachers are asked to think outside the box, and the Farm Bureau will kick in up to $250 to help fund each project chosen.

Last year, 57 Florida teachers received grant funding for agricultural projects ranging from schoolyard gardens, to projects involving honeybees, fish and quail eggs, says Jones.

Pizza gardens, where students grow the ingredients needed to make pizzas they prepare for the class, are especially popular, she adds.

Last year, many of the schools in the FFBF's District 5 -- which includes Hillsborough, Pasco, Polk, Pinellas and other Central Florida counties -- opted to grow hydroponic gardens.

Among them: a class at Young Middle Magnet School in Tampa, 4th and 5th graders in the gifted program at Valleyview Elementary in Lakeland and Plant City High.

Jones says she was surprised to discover that only five schools in District 5 have applied for a grant for the 2015-2016 school year, and she encourages teachers to make the most of the opportunity.

The mini-grant program is part of the Florida Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee’s push to support agricultural education in the state's classrooms, and recipients will be selected by the committee.

But the funding doesn't stop there, says Jones.

"A lot of our county farm bureaus will pick up the ones we don't fund, just to get gardening back in the classroom."

Grant applications are due Sept. 15. Winners will be notified by Nov. 15 via email. Teachers can apply for the grant by visiting the Florida Farm Bureau Federation website.

Read more articles by Jan Hollingsworth.

Jan P. Hollingsworth, 66, of Live Oak, died Monday, March 23, 2020, following a stroke. The national editor for Natural Awakenings Publishing Corp., Jan was an award-winning journalist and author. Her 1986 book, “Unspeakable Acts,” chronicles the investigation that exposed the child-abuse crimes of two Miami day-care center operators and was made into a 1990 television movie. Her reporting specialties included complex issues related to the environment, politics, agriculture, medicine, health, and law. A former Valrico resident, she spent 14 years at The Tampa Tribune as a reporter and editor, receiving numerous honors, including the Environmental Writer of the Year from the Florida Wildlife Federation in 2003 and the Al Burt Award for thorough coverage of growth management from The 1000 Friends of Florida in 2000. Contributions in Jan’s memory would be appreciated at Grune Heide Farm Rescue.