Teens for Food Justice?s farm-to-table concept brings fresh, student-grown produce to the cafeteria It?s the type of experience expected at a top-rated restaurant: Diners gaze at produce growing in a hydroponic garden next to the kitchen. Behind plexiglass, herbs are carefully plucked in anticipation of being added to every plate.
This high-tech take on farm-to-table, however, is being built for the cafeteria of a New York City public school in Manhattan.
As part of a nonprofit program called Teens for Food Justice, a handful of schools in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan have turned spare classrooms, unused science labs, and, in one case, an empty closet into urban hydroponic farms, an experiment in self-sufficiency, science education, and food equity. It?s not unheard of to find produce grown within the five boroughs: supermarket chains like Whole Foods and companies such as Gotham Greens have helped pioneer and popularize large-scale commercial farming in New York City.
But Teens for Food Justice isn?t just about urban farming, it?s about using agriculture in the classroom as a tool to educate and empower communities without easy access to fresh produce.
?These communities lack access to healthy food,? says Katherine Soll, the founder and CEO of Teens for Food Justice. ?How could we utilize a school program to make it possible for food desert communities to provide food for their community"?

Teens for Food Justice

Teens for Food Justi...