A Lighter Touch (ALT) resources on agroecological approaches are being used to demonstrate best practice in sustainable horticulture at a rural secondary school.
Hauraki Plains College in Ngatea (18km from Thames) is a rural secondary school of approximately 900 students from year 9 to 13.
There, horticulture and environmental studies teacher Yotam Kay is putting his 20-plus years of experience in organic and sustainable horticulture to good use, utilising ALT programme resources and guides to develop sustainable crop protection practices.
Yotam Kay, horticulture and environmental studies teacher at Hauraki Plains College.
He is working with students to set up an eight-hectare farm, which will include a wetland component with 4,000 native plants, an orchard with fruit trees, a market garden and a tunnel house to grow vegetables.
The agroecological approaches championed by A Lighter Touch such as crop rotation, biodiversity planting, cover crops and integrated pest management (IPM) are being shared with students and are central to the planning they are doing for the school farm.
Biodiverse planting flowering and providing shelter, nectar, and pollen for beneficial insects at Woodhaven Gardens in Levin.
“We want to demonstrate what farming best practices can look like in the enterprises that we that we have now, and into the future,” Yotam says.
“Our goal is to demonstrate how can we take responsibility for waterways and keep our crops, soil, and animals healthy, while feeding our community and teaching the students the skills to do that.
“I’m really excited to be working now in a school context with a real world project and give the students the opportunity to learn how to grow themselves.”
Yotam and his students have recently visited the Pukekohe Research and Demonstration Farm to learn more about the agroecological practices demonstrated, such as the biodiversity planting and integrated approaches to pest management.
Native perennial plantings alongside vegetable crops at the Pukekohe Research and Demonstration Farm. Credit: Olivia Prouse
“Our first plot is the same size as all the plots at the farm in Pukekohe. It will really give students a perspective of what is involved, because while they say they know what is involved in growing food, I think they will find there is much to learn. So we have a big learning curve ahead of us, and we hope to grow a lot of food for our school use and for our community.”
Yotam’s background is in environmental studies, environmental science and sustainable agriculture. Together with his wife Niva, they set up an organic regnerative small-scale market garden, growing 10,000kg of food a season on a quarter acre of land, while improving the soil and ecosystem.
He says he is fascinated by the research findings and information coming from the ALT programme. He regularly reads In Touch, the ALT monthly email newsletter and wants to embed sustainable solutions appropriate to cultural context in his lessons, and for this to inspire the next generation of growers.
“My big open question is how much food can we grow sustainably in our school environment within our school curriculum? I hope that we’ll see more and more schools growing food for their for their community.”
Check out the ALT resources here, information and case studies on biodiverse planting on vegetable farms is also available on the project page.
