Polk County Public Schools
Lake Wales’ Roosevelt Academy won a second place award and $3,000 in a program developed by the Nutrients for Life Foundation and Florida FFA.
The name of the program was “Helping Communities Grow” and encouraged FFA chapters to inform the public about plant nutrients, fertilizers and related agricultural issues through educational, community building and hands-on activities.
Roosevelt’s FFA chapter won the award for its implementation of Roosevelt Farms, a working farm on the school’s campus that was begun in 1995 by Roosevelt agriculture teacher Ray Cruze. Roosevelt Farms teaches students about different fields of horticulture including plant and crop production and landscaping.
The school grows annuals for the City of Lake Wales, Babson Park’s Webber International University and crops grown at the school include greens, bush beans, onions, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes and peppers. Roosevelt Farms also operates a large scale hydroponic farm to grow grape tomatoes and peppers. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrients solution, in water, without soil.
The farm has a loyal customer base that welcomes the opportunity to purchase locally-grown crops using sustainable growing practices. All of the crops are produced without the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides. The students also use organic fertilizers like fish emulsion and kelp to improve crop productivity and resistance to disease and insects. The crops are sold to the public at the Lake Wales Care Center.
“Students develop employability skills and use their academic skills to run this site-based business,” Cruze said.
Roosevelt donates revenue from the sale of its crops to the Lake Wales Care Center’s Transitional Housing Program. They also donate time and resources to Lake Wales’ Hillcrest Elementary, donating vegetables and herbs used in raised bed gardens at Hillcrest built by Roosevelt students. Roosevelt has also installed a raised bed garden at Lake Wales’ Our Children’s Academy that includes a sensory garden for special needs students there.
Roosevelt provides tours of its working farm to other schools, home school students and has also presented at Lake Wales’ Bok Tower Earth Day event talking about water conservation, non-pesticide crop growing and natural fertilizers.
For further information about Roosevelt Farms contact Cruze or Roosevelt principal Debra Edwards at (863) 678-4252.
