Evergreen School District Grows a Healthier Future with Flex Farms

This October, in celebration of National Farm to School Month, KTVU-TV FOX in San Francisco visited Quimby Middle School in San Jose to see how students are growing fresh food right inside their classrooms. You can view the whole TV segment here.

Quimby Middle School is part of the Evergreen School District, which now operates 13 Flex Farms across its schools—producing more than 150 pounds of fresh produce each month for cafeteria lines.

Hydroponic growing through Flex Farms offers powerful benefits for student engagement, critical thinking, and problem-solving. By managing nutrient levels, testing pH, and tracking crop growth cycles, students are learning valuable lifelong skills through hands-on experimentation. What began with one Flex Farm has grown into a district-wide initiative led by the Evergreen Nutrition Services team, expanding farm-to-school opportunities for thousands of students.

Flex Farms are set up in classrooms and near cafeterias, where they grow lettuces, kale, arugula, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. The produce is hyper-local and hyper-fresh—often harvested and served within minutes. Because hydroponically-grown vegetables retain more nutrients when consumed close to harvest, these greens are among the healthiest foods available. One Flex Farm can grow up to 25 pounds of lettuce every 28 days in just a few square feet, offering hundreds of learning opportunities across STEM, agriculture, sustainability, nutrition, and health.

Evergreen School District also operates a Central Kitchen that collects, packages, and distributes the fresh, hydroponic produce to all 16 schools in the district. This model demonstrates how innovative, sustainable approaches can increase access to nutritious food while integrating hands-on learning into the school day. In a region where food insecurity affects many families, Evergreen’s Flex Farm program empowers students to grow food indoors year-round, giving them both knowledge and nourishment.

The district’s Child Nutrition Services team works tirelessly to provide diverse and appealing meals. Evergreen is proud to be among the 99% of U.S. school districts meeting USDA’s healthier meal standards. Beyond providing nutritious food, the district’s efforts help students build healthy habits and self-reliance that will serve them throughout their lives.

Across the nation, schools like Evergreen are redefining what it means to connect farms with classrooms. During Farm to School Month, kids aren’t just learning about where food comes from, they’re growing it themselves. This hands-on connection to food is part of a broader shift known as the Food Is Medicine movement, which views fresh, healthy food as an essential component of health and well-being.

As school meal programs face rising costs, staffing challenges, and growing food insecurity, Evergreen’s approach offers a model for what’s possible when innovation meets education. With Flex Farms, Evergreen School District is not just growing produce, it’s growing a generation of healthy, informed changemakers ready to shape a more sustainable future.

Learn how your school and foster change and grow fresh food too by contacting Fork Farms.