Kentucky students harvest corn for classmates’ lunch

MADISONVILLE, Ky. (WEHT) — In Hopkins County, students are getting the chance to reap what they sow. Students at Hopkins County Central High School spent the morning harvesting corn they planted and preparing it for their classmates.

Leaders say its important to know where your food comes from. HCCHS students can find the source of their your school’s window. Through the hard work of Ben Prevette, around 100 Hopkins County Central High School Students and several generous community members… Students will have fresh corn to accompany their lunch.

Mr. Prevette says he hopes the school’s decision to grow the crop will have an impact that stretches beyond his agriculture class.

“The idea was that we would be able to grow enough here, in our pilot year, to help feed corn in through the high school…that was the overall goal. Hopefully, we would be able to feed corn into all of the different elementary schools and middle schools in the county,” says Prevette.

Officials say they chose corn because of its low cost, return on investment and ability to produce within the year.

High school senior Landon Herring says his family owns a farm, and his dad donated the seeds for the project.

Herring says he’s used that experience to answer his friends harvesting questions.

“A lot of them are smaller and bigger and a lot of times it’s harder for them to really know which ones like, good to pick. Towards the top of them… they’ve got the brown stuff hanging out. Usually, if they’re pink or they’re purple, they’re not ready,” says Herring.

Officials say they started gathering necessary equipment in December, including a tiller for the soil, a tractor and they even built their own corn planter.

Mr. Prevette says seeds went into the ground in March after testing the soil, but its been a lesson in perseverance and trial and error.

“It started to come up a little bit, but a huge rain came in, packed it into the ground, and it wouldn’t come through. We had just enough seed left to get at what’s in front of you today. We went a little bit more shallow with the planting. So, this was actually planted on June 20th,” says

Students learned how to shuck corn, and school officials say cafeteria workers will blanch the corn on Tuesday before serving to students next week.

Officials students will share their experience with their peers during lunch.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation.