Tuscaloosa County School System debuts educational farm program

The Tuscaloosa County School System has unveiled the system's new K-12 Education Farm facility near Samantha.

Teachers on Aug. 2 toured the new 105-acre farm on Finnell Road to see what it has to offer students interested in a career in agriculture.

More: Tuscaloosa County school teachers, staff unite for 2024 summit

The farm has a newly planted orchard, sheep, goats, cows, bees and a variety of crops already up and growing, with more activity planned. The farm will also teach forest management and water management, among many other aspects of agriculture beyond the obvious farming and ranching. The food they have raised has already been put to use in the TCSS summer feeding program.

The development of the farm is far ahead of the schedule Superintendent Keri Johnson anticipated.

"To be honest with you, we thought we would be where we are now this time next year. This has just really taken off very, very quickly,” Johnson said.

John Cameron, the farm operation manager said, "Overall, this is a workforce development project. Eighty percent of our state's product every year is agricultural, be it timber, poultry, peanuts, cotton, whatever it is. A lot of people think of West Alabama as an automotive region, but tires, dashes and seats are made out of soybeans."

Cameron pointed out there is a tremendous need for young people to become involved in agribusiness. He said the average age of a farmer is now 60 and older.

"We are trying to make sure we don't have a generational gap in workforce for agriculture since this is the state's biggest industry," Cameron said.

Cameron hopes to get students and the public beyond thinking of agriculture strictly in terms of row crops and ranching, the two most visible staples of farming. He said students are fascinated to discover that drones are widely used in farming, as are computers and computer analysis. The TCSS program will emphasize all these non-traditional aspects of agribusiness in the education students gain at the farm.

"We are trying to open the door for the youth, middle school and elementary to match with their science curriculums. We will use our corn maze and pumpkin patch to draw the kids in and then they can find if they might like to work with animals or something. We are hoping to draw kids into an industry that is losing its workforce in 10 years," Cameron said.

Tuscaloosa County High students Jackson Sims and Miller Evans are two of five high school students who interned at the farm all summer. Neither of them grew up on a farm, though both of them like the outdoors.

"We got to come out here and run equipment and do things we enjoy doing outdoors," Evans said.

"We are doing some stuff we've never done before, (like) plant corn, plant sunflowers. Most of the stuff we do is things we have done like cutting grass and planting deer plots," Sims said.

While neither young man committed to a future in farming, both felt it enhanced their education and will help them in the future.

"I'm going to try to use what I learned to get me somewhere, but I have no idea what I'm going to do yet," said Sims, a senior.

"I like being out here and learning hands-on. I think a lot of kids learn better when it's hands-on," Evans, a junior, said.

Sims agreed, saying it was far better to be out on the farm doing it than to sit in a classroom and watch a video or read about someone else doing it.

“As soon as you step foot on the farm, you can see there are so many opportunities you don’t get in the classroom. There are so many things to see, and learn, and do. It’s all hands-on. There are all kinds of things you can learn in a book but it doesn’t become real until you put your hands on it. It’s a real opportunity for our kids,” Johnson said.

Tuscaloosa County Extension Agent Neal Hargle echoed Johnson, saying, "This is not a petting zoo. It is a working farm where we will see every aspect of a farm from birth to death, start to finish.

"We basically want to teach the students about farming. The way farming is right now, this is not a farmer getting a plow and walking behind a mule. This is high-tech farming. We will teach the students how to use drones in an agricultural context whether it be spraying, fertilizing with a drone, using FLIR cameras to spot rust or different fungi on the crops. We can use them to move livestock around. Agriculture is not just farming and ranching," Hargle said.

Right now, three schools participate: TCHS, Sipsey and Northside. In a time of tight school budgets, the farm is not taking money from traditional school programs. Money derived from community partnerships as well as government grants from local, state, and federal elected officials have funded the development of the farm. Johnson said a barn that is about to be constructed will be paid for out of money left over from a 2020 bond issue.

For instance, a new John Deere tractor was provided at no charge by Alfa Insurance. Tuscaloosa County provided a great deal of help in developing the site and Probate Judge Rob Robertson and the County Commission have been fully supportive.

Cameron said the farm will impact about 5,000 students in the first year as elementary school field trips come for the corn maze or the pumpkin patch in the fall. About 140 students will participate in the hand-on education at the farm this academic year. As more teachers are added, more students will be added to the learning experience. Presently, all the students will come from TCHS, Sipsey Valley High and Northside High.

Reach Gary Cosby Jr. at gary.cosby@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tuscaloosa County School System debuts educational farm program