In 2019, students in West Warwick and Cumberland were just beginning to explore growing their own vegetables in freight farms.
Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
Now, the programs at Cumberland and West Warwick are getting back on their feet.
Launched in 2017, the program in Cumberland is managed by Sodexo and uses Freight Farms to grow produce for schools in the district while teaching students about sustainability and nutrition. Those two topics, Sodexo manager Shana Dipetrillo said, are incredibly important.
Dipetrillo, who manages the day to day freight farms operations for Cumberland Schools, including distribution, said the program serves fresh, "homegrown" greens through their store, which demonstrates to the students how "the town, and Sodexo, take these topics seriously."
The Cumberland farm is currently set up and connected to the high school's electric and water, Dipetrillo said and the output depends on the cycle, but they are able to supply both the high school and elementary fresh greens both daily and weekly.
"There is weekly, monthly, and quarterly maintenance that is required, along with daily and weekly tasks, that can be handled with about 20 hours of work," she said. "Right now, I have volunteers from both Johnson and Wales and a local farm to not only learn the process, but also have interest in installing them for their own use."
In West Warwick, as well as Cumberland, Freight Farms' tech is at the core of production and education at the schools. In 2021, Freight Farms opened new headquarters in Boston and late last year, the company announced a $17.5M Series B3 funding round co-led by Aliaxis SA and Ospraie Ag Science.
According to Rick Vanzura, CEO of Freight Farms, the growth over the last two years has allowed the company to host more in-house training for customers, more space for extensive research and development, and team up with local businesses and community programs.
"We have collaborated with local chefs to grow crops for menu testing, with a local brewery to try growing a specialty ingredient for beer, with the local food bank for a company volunteering day, and with local nonprofits to donate the produce from our HQ Freight Farms," he told RI Inno. "We feel that partnering with schools is particularly impactful because it plants the seed of the importance of sustainability, healthy choices, and the potential of alternative agriculture when kids are young. Our farms help ignite a passion in youth."
Currently, Freight Farms' Greenery S farms are being used for education at all levels — from K–12 through college, including West Warwick High School, Auburn University, Mountain Vista High School, UC Davis, University of Northern Michigan and the Floyd County School of Innovation in Kentucky.
"Our farms also present valuable hands-on learning and career readiness opportunities. The lessons that can be taught from inside the farm span STEM, social emotional learning, agriculture, business, and more — each with a real-world, hands-on application seldom found in traditional education. These valuable opportunities help students mature and prepare for college and careers," he said.
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