Specialty Crop

Students enrolled in agriculture classes and FFA learn about horticulture, plant sciences, gardening, greenhouse management, soil testing, and other topics as part of their curriculum. Students raise sweet corn, watermelon, sweet potato, and other vegetables and fruits, and care for several hives of bees. And they have worked to overcome challenges in the greenhouse, such as irrigation water high in salts.

Teacher Jay Clapper also started an ‘Agriculture on Wheels’ program, which involves outfitting flatbed trailers to accommodate a wide variety of uses, such as processing poultry; planting corn; or raising worms, edible mushrooms, chickens, and honeybees. “The sky’s the limit, which allows students to really do some exploring,” he says.