The Hall County School District’s (HCSD) Farm and the students who are learning from it are the featured article on the front page of the latest edition of the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s (GDA) newspaper.
The Farmers & Consumers Market Bulletin headline reads: “On the Farm: Hall County schools nurture future farmers with Agribusiness Center.”
The story reads, in part:
Beyond the traditional classroom, Hall County students are gaining real-world experience at the county school district’s Agribusiness Center and Farm. This unique farm and meat processing center provides students with hands-on learning opportunities in agriculture, setting them up for success in the industry after graduation.
Located on 50 acres a few miles north of Gainesville, the ag center and farm opened in 2023. It began processing beef and pork in August for the district’s 35 school cafeterias. The farmalso has a honey production site and a poultry flock. They planted blueberry bushes near the bee hives, which is part ofplans for the farm to grow produce to supply local schools.
The Hall County’s Agribusiness Center and Farm is similar to what other schools across Georgia are doing in agricultural sciences. Georgia recently became the first state to offer an ag curriculum in grades 1-12.
Middle and high school students can attend ag classes and consider agriculture a career
path after graduation.
In Hall County, the center and farm provide instruction in animal husbandry, food production, and processing in its meat processing facilities. Jason Chesser, meat science coordinator at the center,
explained that the center’s mission is to provide a lasting learning experience and create a field-to-table
connection for the students.
“I see the biggest need here is in helping educate our youth and community about the importance of agriculture, creating that connection between farmers and working farms, and giving kids the opportunity to learn that hands-on,” Chesser said.
Click here to read the entire article which includes quotes from other school officials as well as one student, Caroline Gipson, a North Hall High School Senior:
(Pictured: Harley and Zoe are two miniature Highlands cows at the Hall County School
District Agribusiness Center and Farm in Gainesville and are used as
demonstration animals for school field trips to the farm. Photo courtesy of GDA and the article’s author, Jay Jones.)