On the West Side, the Farm Is the Classroom

An impoverished corner of Hawaii may not sound like the foundation of a successful agriculture endeavor, but local youth have proved otherwise. MA'O translating into youth food garden aims to show college-aged youth a way onto a different path by teaching them sustainable and organic farm practices alongside lessons in how to be leaders in all areas of life.

A group of women are restoring abandoned chinampas (ancient Aztec floating farms) in and around Mexico City, combining indigenous farming techniques with university research partnerships to clean polluted waterways, protect endangered axolotls, revive sustainable year-round agriculture, and train a new generation of farmers in traditional methods.

With technical and financial support from various organizations, farmers in Nepal are transitioning to organic manure and natural insecticides to grow healthier crops and improve soil health.

The Green City Force run by the New York City Housing Authority turns open urban spaces into gardens tended by young adults in the program. The force is meant to prepare members for careers in sustainable industries afterward. The members also educate locals, trade vegetables grown in the gardens for compost, and train in ecoliteracy.

The Al Barakeh Wheat Project is working to regain food sovereignty through urban wheat farming in Amman, Jordan, by partnering farmers with families to teach them how to grow and harvest wheat.

A high school in Jackson, Mississippi, hosts the Academy of Natural Resource Utilization in which students grow produce in greenhouses, sell it at farmers markets, and make food products like salsa. The academy is an effort to educate youth on gardening and combat food insecurity in the community.

Blanchet House is a nonprofit that provides food and housing for people in need. Men who are recovering from substance abuse can live at the farm and have an opportunity to work on the land and learn skills that promote self-sufficiency and confidence. Men generally stay up to 8 months with free room and board, attend daily AA and NA meetings, and are assigned jobs like tending to the animals and ground maintenance. Unlike other sobriety programs that emphasize deep self-reflection, Blanchet House focuses on the physical component of getting your hands dirty and learning responsibility.

A Palestinian woman is working to revive ancient heirloom seeds that yield crops used in traditional Palestinian cuisine by providing the seeds to local farmers and educating them on how they can be used.

Project Feed the Hood, a community effort to increase food access and security for lower-income families, has established gardens and pilot programs at ten schools in Albuquerque. The program originally aimed to convert lawns into gardens while giving youth an alternative to military recruitment. Now, it is run by community volunteers and also offers paid internships for youth. “We’re here to resist, to reclaim our food systems, our community spaces,” explains one of the project's dedicated staff members.

Though the overall poverty rate has been dropping in recent years, rural communities in Uganda still lack many basic resources, including access to healthy food, toiletries, and economic opportunity. The Network of Women in Agribusiness and Development was founded by women to empower and support their sisters through educational initiatives, agricultural training, and the provision of items such as pigs and fruit trees to help them break the cycle of poverty.