Birmingham’s Jones Valley Teaching Farm is one of three winners of the Produce Marketing Association’s inaugural Impact Award.
Joe Don Zetzsche, chairman of PMA’s board of directors, said the award’s purpose is “to honor excellence and inspirational actions of people and organizations helping to grow a healthier world.”
Jones Valley Teaching Farm and the other winners are featured in a mini documentary that will be shared on PMA’s recently launched Impact Award webpage.
“We know that one of the most powerful things a person can do to live a healthier life is to eat more fruits and vegetables, and establishing habits at a young age is key to lifetime produce consumption,” said Lauren M. Scott, PMA chief strategy and membership officer. “Jones Valley Teaching Farm has created a community movement that helps children access and learn about farming through a meaningful hands-on experience that is shaping their relationship with food, providing a deep learning experience and shaping their communities in a very important way. We are thrilled to recognize them with one of the first PMA Impact Awards.”
Founded in 2007, the nonprofit Jones Valley Teaching Farm builds student-centered teaching farms that provide an environment for young people to learn, create, explore and grow a healthy future for themselves and their community.
Through its Good School Food model, full-time instructors collaborate with teachers to help pre-K through 12th grade students connect food, farming and the culinary arts through standards-based, cross-curricular lessons during the school day.
In addition to its downtown campus, Jones Valley Teaching Farm oversees six teaching farms on the campuses of elementary, middle and high schools throughout the Birmingham area.
The program reaches more than 3,500 children each year. Currently, 25% of the organization’s staff is made up of graduates, a number that the teaching farm’s executive director, Amanda Storey, hopes to increase over time.
“That is intentional and is shifting the paradigm of nonprofit, and that’s important,” Storey said. “When it’s students who have been through the program and can then be able to direct it, that is community change. That is opportunity.”
Students select the produce to plant based on taste, curiosity and consumer demand. At a free afterschool program called the Market Club, teams of students sell produce to teachers, parents and community members.
For more informatioon about the award winners and to see the minidocumentary about Jones Valley Teaching Farm, visit pma.com. The PMA is a trade association representing compainies from the global produce and floral supply chain.
—Donna Cornelius
