Mar 23, 2016
Syngenta awards Grow More Vegetables grants

Syngenta has announced the recipients of the Syngenta Grow More Vegetables seed grant program, selected from applicants nationwide. The three honorees will be awarded garden grant packages that support their efforts to educate local communities on the benefits of fresh vegetable production and consumption.

 The grant program is a real-world, community example of The Good Growth Plan, a plan composed of six commitments Syngenta has made to address the global food security challenge with specific and measurable targets that focus on boosting resource efficiency, rejuvenating ecosystems and strengthening rural communities.

 The 2015 grant recipients are:

At Pierz Healy Middle School in Pierz, Minnesota, about 275 students and 14 community members contribute to the success of the school garden. Coordinators of the garden program utilize the garden as a hands-on tool to educate students about science and the environment. Multiple classes in the school address different aspects of the garden, from designing its layout to making and testing scientific hypotheses. In addition to the middle school students actively involved in the garden, agricultural science teacher Patricia Tax engages students from both the elementary and high schools to educate the entire community about the benefits of growing produce.

Members of the South Winneshiek High School FFA program learn through the vocational agricultural program. Students learn about agriculture through traditional gardening techniques, as well as hands-on science, technology, engineering and math-based, or STEM-based, experiments in the greenhouse. The South Winn Gardens contain raised garden beds, a microgreen system, a greenhouse and a test plot. Students in this program market the produce to the local community and donate a portion of it to the district’s food pantry.

The Kane Street Community Garden is a project run by the Hunger Task Force of La Crosse, Wisconsin, to help feed the hungry in the state’s Great Rivers region. Recent census data indicates that more than 25 percent of the residents in the area are living below the poverty line, and Kane Street Garden coordinators hope to provide free produce to all of these residents. Each year, the project serves more than 1,100 people and has about 1,200 volunteers. 

The Syngenta Grow More Vegetables seed grant program supports hands-on educational opportunities to enhance healthy eating programs in communities, as well as reinforce and support programming of The Good Growth Plan. The grant program is led by DeMers and Jeannine Bogard, Syngenta garden vegetables product business manager.

For more information about the Syngenta Grow More Vegetables Seed Grant Program, visit the Syngenta Vegetables website




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