SDSPA Offering Urban Ag Lesson Plans
One of S.D. Specialty Producers Association’s (SDSPA) missions is to develop specialty production agriculture opportunities in South Dakota and to increase awareness and markets for local foods. SDSPA is accomplishing that mission in a variety of ways.
SDSPA Urban Ag Liaison, Malisa Niles, has developed lesson plans that introduce several facets of specialty production to youth. She is presenting an intro to specialty production lesson and a beekeeping lesson to the 2025 CHCSD Homeschool Conference in Sioux Falls in early May and to the S.D. ag teachers in July. She is focusing on the five ways to promote specialty production in the schools; school gardens, hydroponics, composting, curriculum and using the farm to school program.
School Gardens are a great way to get children involved and outside, but is more of a challenge in S.D. due to our short growing season that barely overlaps the school year. Those challenges can be met by using raised beds, hydroponic setups, or indoor growing systems which would teach students about plant biology, nutrition, and responsibility.
Hydroponics & Aquaponics Labs are an excellent way to create indoor opportunities for youth to learn about specialty production. People are visually drawn to them and interested in learning how they work. Vast number of educational opportunities in indoor systems allowing year-round growing and integration with STEM curriculum (e.g., chemistry, water cycles, physics of light). Lettuce is a popular plant to use and shared with cafeterias.
Students can learn about food waste and plant nutrition by creating a composting program. Composting programs teach decomposition, soil health, and waste reduction, plus the students can use the finished product in the gardens and do growing experiments with it in the classroom.
Niles is promoting urban agriculture in the classroom by creating and promoting urban ag curriculum. There are so many subjects that can be covered by integrating specialty production into the classroom. Science can cover plant growth, ecosystems, and weather.
Math gives hands-on opportunities to learn by measuring growth, and yield calculations. Social Studies covers food systems, and urban development. Students learn about health and nutrition through lessons on food origins, and healthy eating.
Farm-to-School has many opportunities and programs. Its goal is to connect students to local food systems, support local farmers, and can supply cafeterias with fresh produce.
Niles would love to visit with educators about incorporating specialty production into their programs. If you know anyone interested in having her visit their classroom or homeschool co-op, please contact her at sdspa.urbanag@gmail.com.
