Growing crops, harvesting knowledge

April 2018     No Comments

Scott Royce and his fifth grade class at Bellamy Elementary School show off one of their beds of micro greens sweet peas today on harvest day. With them are Sarita Ruiz, back row left, and Christina Carambia, back row right. Carambia proposed the program and brought along Ruiz, who runs Sarita’s Food Truck, to explain how she prefers local, natural ingredients. (Photo Courtesy of Rome Sentinel / John Clifford)

Some local elementary students got the opportunity to learn first-hand what it takes to grow and harvest produce thanks to the efforts of a SUNY Poly student.

In March, fifth graders at Bellamy Elementary School spent a day harvesting their own crop of micro-greens as part of the program organized by SUNY Poly interdisciplinary studies major Christina Carambia. Carambia worked with elementary school teacher Scott Royce to collaborate on developing a program as part of his plant science curriculum where his students could learn about the development of produce.

It seems to be a natural fit for Carambia, who already holds associate’s degrees in horticulture production and business management. She’s also the owner of Underground Greens, a year-round, non-GMO farm for plants and produce, which was a third place finisher in the Clean Energy category of the New York Business Plan Competition in 2014 and 2016 and a first place winner those years at the Mohawk Valley Regional competition.

Blending all of Carambia’s specialty fields (including agriculture, business, and marketing) with Royce’s teaching and guidance from SUNY Poly professor Dr. Kristina Boylan, Carambia hopes the initiative would create a successful program model that could generate interest of other young entrepreneurs.

Sarita Ruiz records students harvesting greens in Scott Royce’s fifth grade class at Bellamy Elementary School today. Helping the students with the harvest is Christina Carambia, who helped create the program. The students are, from left, Isaac Nemo, Mike Ladue and Nicholas Ventura. (Photo courtesy of Rome Sentinel / John Clifford)

“I hope to change the perception of being a farmer from an average job to extraordinary career. Farming isn’t just tending livestock and planting seeds. It has become a challenging, exciting, industry where innovation is key to a successful farm,” Carambia told the Rome Sentinel. “Employment opportunities are growing in this industry sector and include disciplines outside of the skills traditionally associated with farming, like software development, interactive media, and engineering new mechanized agricultural tools. For example, drones, robots, and clean energy systems are all tools that future farmers will need to continue to develop to ensure a sustainable food system for generation to come. I believe that exposing young people to agriculture, business, and marketing in a well-rounded, interdisciplinary manner will inspire new ideas that would not occur if the students were introduced to the disciplines one at a time. It’s the synergy of the combined disciplines that make this program unique.”

The fifth graders learned how to sow, grow, and harvest flats of micro greens over the three week program, with Carambia providing the flats, seeds, lighting, and more. When it came time to harvest their micro greens, Carambia enlisted the aid of SUNY Poly alum Sarita Ruiz, the owner of Sarita’s Food Truck, who spoke to the class about why it’s so important to her to use fresh, local produce in her creations.

Carambia hopes that the skills the students developed over the course of those three weeks will ready them to start more advanced plant production activities, something she hopes to help find funding for to aid them in their efforts. As the fifth graders sold some of their harvested produce to Ruiz, Carambia told the newspaper that she would like to see the program become sustainable and for the class to be able to continue selling their agricultural crops.