A new hydroponic greenhouse at Rio Rico High School in Nogales, Arizona will help train students in the agriculture science program for possible future careers in raising crops in commercial greenhouses. Arizona is the leader in both colleges (University of Arizona) offering degree programs in Controlled Environment Agriculture and commercial greenhouses growing hydroponic vegetables (Eurofresh.)
Mary Donnelly writes in NogalesInternational.com,
Students from Rio Rico High School were shoveling gravel into wheelbarrows recently while others raked the piles smooth on the floor of two new greenhouses on the east side of Interstate 19, just south of the Peak Canyon exit. Sweaty brows didn’t distinguish their smiles as visions of the tomatoes and hanging baskets filled with flowers they would soon be growing filled their heads.
“It’s good exercise for the muscles,” said Leslie Carranza, a 4th year student in the Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District No. 35 Agriculture Science Program. She is also secretary of the Future Farmers or America (FFA) club at the high school. She would rather be riding horses but loves anything to do with agriculture, she said.
To read the whole story on the greenhouse at Rio Rico H.S., click HERE.
Photo credit: NogalesInternational.com
Hydroponics Dictionary
