I believe that increasing local agropreneurship (agricultural entrepreneurship) is an immediate area of opportunity for our public school system, and health system collectively. I was honored to have the chance to speak on a panel today at the Houston Food Bank. The invitation came about based on results from a programming effort within Houston's East End community called GREEN (Instagram//@greeneastend) that I helped launch, along with Jorge Olvera (El Centro de Corazon) and Yarmilla Reyes (Univ. of Houston - BOUNCE program) in 2019. Our efforts have focused heavily on aligning agriculture programming throughout the school feeder pattern, elementary through high school, that provide students with access to build skills necessary to grow local produce and strengthen community bonds. We are continuing forward this year with additional emphasis being placed on backyard gardening within the same hyper-local community, as well as expanding the programming efforts through Grow Local Houston (Instagram//@growlocalhouston) into other areas of the city. I ask the question: What are some other successful strategies/programming efforts that you are aware of that provide students better access to urban agriculture?
I can’t hold back my laughter as of right now. I mean, agricultural education for students mostly start and last during kindergarten years. I remember growing cotton out of my dad’s peanut butter jar. Plus, agriculture wouldn’t work around skyscrapers so it’s difficult to use that in urban areas. I’d rather call those best assignment writers to help me get realistic information on my essays instead of crawling around myths of agricultural scope within students.