How does your garden grow? Where does food come from? A new center will have the answers.
Rob Myers has a plan that would allow children to read a book, plant a garden and pet barnyard animals all in one location.
Jefferson Farm and Gardens is being planned as a new educational farm that would offer visitors a hands-on approach to agriculture. At a time when less than 2 percent of the U.S. population is directly involved in agriculture, the facility would focus on the relevance of agriculture to each visitor’s everyday life.
“It will be a learning farm for people to come in and learn the different facets of agriculture,” said Myers, executive director of the $1.5 million, 67-acre development. “We want to focus on contemporary agriculture and how food is produced. We want to help people understand where their food comes from.”
Jefferson Farm and Gardens is being developed by the Jefferson Institute, a nonprofit organization created seven years ago and based in Columbia. The institute focuses on agricultural education and research. Jefferson Farm and Gardens is its most recent project.
Jefferson Farm and Gardens would be a year-round instructional center for children and adults. Construction is expected to begin in the summer and the farm will open in spring 2006, pending approval by the University of Missouri Board of Curators.
Currently, the Jefferson Institute has raised about half of the $1.5 million. The USDA donated money for equipment, and the Housing Urban Development Community Development Fund donated money for the buildings.
Indoor facilities would include a visitor’s center, classrooms, exhibits and a teaching greenhouse. Outside, visitors would explore demonstration fields and orchards, a test garden modeled after Thomas Jefferson’s test garden at his Virginia home in Monticello, a children’s garden, wildflower garden and a barnyard with Missouri farm animals.
Myers said the farm would be a unique resource to Missouri that would attract an estimated 30,000 visitors each year, including 10,000 schoolchildren.
Youth education would be a major focus of the farm. Myers said he anticipates hosting day camps for children in the summer as well as programs and special events throughout the year. The children’s garden would contain plants that children experience in their daily lives and signs explaining their uses. Also, a children’s library would offer books for kids about farming and horticulture.
Jefferson Farm and Gardens hopes to offer additional programs, one of which would provide schools the opportunity to cultivate a garden at the farm. Children would plant their gardens themselves in the spring and return several months later for the harvest. Under supervision, the children would then cook their own lunch, allowing them to experience the food’s journey from the field onto their plates.
However, details for the project are still being worked out.
“The Jefferson Institute has been engaged in joint planning with MU about leasing land for the Jefferson Farm and Gardens within the boundaries of the 1,500- acre University South Farm,” Myers said. “If all the parties come to a final agreement, the Jefferson Farm will be located off New Haven Road, east of Highway 63, pending curator approval.”
The proposal has the support of MU South Farm Superintendent John Poehlmann, who said Jefferson Farm and Gardens would be another player in the common mission of education. He said the farm would do a fine job of hosting school field trips, which the South Farm has done in the past but has not been able to maintain because of budget cutbacks.
Tom Payne, vice chancellor and dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, said the new facility would also benefit college students.
“The farm and gardens, while focused on K-12 and adults, will be a valuable learning resource for our undergraduates,” Payne said. “There they, too, will be able to see the demonstration fields of various plant species grown for different uses. In addition, our students and faculty can play a role in the educational programs of the farm and garden and help with the goal of providing a year-round learning facility.”
Jefferson Farm and Gardens also intends to offer internship opportunities for high school and college students.