Southwest Wisconsin Technical College is launching a new initiative that places hydroponic indoor farms in 22 K–12 school districts across its five-county region. The project officially kicked off during an event Aug. 13 on Southwest Tech’s campus. Each school district will receive a state-of-the-art indoor vertical farming tower from Fork Farms, valued at $5,000. The farms were funded, in part, with a grant from Cummins. Southwest Tech provided funding for the remaining farms. In addition, Rockwell Automation is supporting the project’s technological and automation components. The initiative aims to foster hands-on, work-based learning in agriculture, business, and science. Schools plan to use the farms in a variety of ways — from growing food for school cafeterias and fundraising through produce sales to using the units as interactive STEM learning labs. Southwest Tech plans to deepen its support for participating districts through faculty mentorship and curriculum integration. The college is also exploring ways to track long-term outcomes and further scale the initiative.
