Jackson County High School accelerating the development of a new on-campus farm after securing multiple grants to move forward the school’s agricultural plan.
Assistant Principal Jay Halfacre said the school began identifying specific infrastructure needs last year to create a hands-on agricultural site for students. Halfacre said the project includes a fruit orchard, a livestock barn, and a tractor to provide students with direct experience in food production and farm management.
“Having all these tools in place, you know, we’re hoping to be up and running in two to three years now,” Halfacre said. “Thanks to a lot of these grants, that 10-year plan is quickly turning into a two or three-year plan.”
The farm is located on 15 acres of the former Jackson County golf course, specifically occupying the areas previously used for holes one, eight, and nine. Chaffin said the site is situated behind the new Career and Technical Education building and the football practice field.
Agriculture Teacher Brandon Chaffin said a $28,000 grant from Farm Credit Services will fund a 48-by-72-foot barn. Chaffin said the facility will feature two side sheds and interior pens designed for housing, feeding, and working cattle.
“It’s exciting, I mean, to be able to be growing at that accelerated rate because of these grants,” Chaffin said. “I think it’s just going to be able to provide more opportunities to these kids a whole lot faster than what we first thought it would be able to and to be able to give them hands-on learning experiences that a lot of these kids just don’t have anymore, don’t have the opportunities of being on a working farm.”
The school is also utilizing a grant from the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation to establish an orchard. Halfacre said the foundation is providing 60 bare-root trees, an irrigation system, and a perimeter fence to protect the plants from deer.
“You’d be amazed at the number of students we have here at Jackson County High School that have maybe never been on a farm, never been up close to a cow,” Halfacre said. “And I know that’s a shocking statistic, but it truly is mind-blowing to me the number of those students that have not had that exposure. So that farm-to-table demonstration, that farm-to-table look that they’ll have, that inside look of how to grow their own food, how to be self-sufficient… And just growing up on a farm and learning that hard work and dedication and commitment that that takes is invaluable.”
Chaffin said the orchard will include Pawpaw trees and American chestnut trees to help re-establish those populations. Halfacre said the school expects the 10-to-15-year-old trees to be delivered in the spring and begin producing fruit within two years.
“Being able to know how to be able to raise your own food and be self-sustainable is very important these days to a lot of people,” Chaffin said. “And to be able to have a facility here to be able to show people how to do it so they feel comfortable doing it once they graduate and grow up. I think a lot of people are nervous of it and scared because they’ve never been around it. And if they’ve been around it out here in an early age, then they’re not going to be as scared to be able to take that on and feel like they can’t do it later on in life.”
Construction of the barn will serve as a collaborative educational project between high school students and TCAT Upper Cumberland. Halfacre said the partnership allows TCAT building trades students to apply their classroom knowledge to a real-world project while high school students observe the development process.
“It’s really good for both programs; it’s good for the TCAT students, it gives them that hands-on learning opportunity, you know, things they learn outside the classroom they can actually put what they know to work and show what they’ve learned and learn while they’re building,” Halfacre said. “And for our students just seeing the process, getting that time to watch how it all develops and things of that nature.”
The school plans to integrate the farm into various departments, including STEM, business, and special education classes. Halfacre said the orchard will also serve a community purpose, as the grant requires the fruit to be distributed to the public for free rather than sold.
“We want our students to be community-oriented and service-oriented,” Halfacre said. “We want them to give back to the community that’s given so much to them. You know, when these fruit trees are up and going, we don’t have plans to sell the fruit, that’s actually part of the grant. So we’ll have students that’ll gather this fruit, collect this fruit and give it to the community.”