Freight Farms

It used to be that kids left school to help on the family farm. This high school is turning that on its head.

What comes to mind when you think of a farm? Probably something bucolic; perhaps a red barn and a few cows, and maybe a field of row crops.

Now, what comes to mind when you think of modern education? Likely high-tech devices galore — touch screens, tablets, a laptop for every child — or maybe intensely hands-on learning à la Montessori, or yet still perhaps a child-centered, social emotional learning-guided approach.

Now take a look at this:

What you see is both a farm and a modern educational platform.

(We know, we know — mind blown.)

We’re here today to talk about a pioneer. But not that type of pioneer (the one who traveled in a wagon and staked claim to wide open land and then farmed it for livelihood) — although this pioneer is indeed farming.

We’re talking about a pioneer in education, and a pioneer in educational container farming: Mountain Vista High School.

The Highlands Ranch, Colorado, school was one of the first to see the potential of vertical container farms (like the one you see above) as an educational tool. They brought a Freight Farms container farm to their campus in 2017!

The farm has turned out not only to be a fantastic educational tool, but also to be a learning pathway for…pretty much everyone.

“We don’t have many courses that just attract everybody. We’re a really comprehensive high school but that doesn’t mean that every course is for every kid — and this seems to be that way.”

— Jason Cochrane, Mountain Vista High School Teacher

Farming is a Modern STEM Education

You can’t get much more high-tech and hands-on than this.

Students play a role in every aspect of operating the container farm, which is equipped with high-tech vertical growing, hydroponics, and controlled environment agriculture systems. All of it is programmed for remote control with an app called farmhand®.

Teachers have embraced the system as an educational platform. One class is conducting a microbial study comparing lettuce from the Freight Farm to traditionally grown lettuces. Another teacher is using a spectrophotometer to analyze the wavelengths of red and blue light in the farm with biology classes. Students love that these sorts of lessons put abstract theories learned in science classes into practice.

“I went into biology this year and had no clue what he was saying when he was like, ‘pH’….[The farm] helps me get a better understanding, a much more firm grasp on what exactly it does to plants — it’s quite helpful.”

— Aidan, Mountain Vista High School Student

An Alternate Pathway

Nontraditional Farming for Nontraditional Learners

A “comprehensive high school,” it may be, but Mountain Vista’s school administration recognized that there were some gaps. Namely: the school needed a pathway for students who learn better by doing — through practical, hands-on experience rather than books — and may not be bound for college directly out of high school.

The Agriculture Business program, with the Freight Farm as a tool, was their answer. Farming offers an opportunity for students to learn practical skills applicable out in the real world, and the lessons taught and learned in the Freight Farm are notably tangible compared to textbooks and worksheets in other, more traditional high school classes.

“I’m really glad I was able to have this experience — it really helped me get into high school and understand how to navigate it better. I think I would not be quite where I am right now without this class.”

— Kimberly, Mountain Vista High School Student

The result? Now, kids are succeeding in school BECAUSE they’re helping with the farm.

We like the sound of that.

Hear more directly from the students, to learn why farming is the future of education.

Mountain Vista’s students find great value in lessons in the Freight Farm. (Video credit: Freight Farms)

Visit us at www.freightfarms.com.

Lead photo: Mountain Vista High School’s Container Farm (Image credit: Freight Farms)