The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and Variety – The Children’s Charity of the Delaware Valley hosted students from across southeast and central Pennsylvania for Farm City Day to learn how agriculture touches their daily lives and brings their science and technology lessons to life outside the classroom.
“Students here today may be the ones who dream up the technology and innovation that will shape our agriculture industry and feed our families tomorrow,” Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said. “We want students to see, touch, and imagine how they can put their abilities and interests to work in agriculture. Pennsylvania’s agriculture industry needs flexible problem-solvers who can imagine not just how agriculture works for them every day, but how they can have a future making agriculture work better for everyone. Students who have disabilities work daily to navigate the world. They can bring that skill to tackling the challenges a changing climate, technology, and marketplace bring to agriculture.”
Since 1935, Variety Children’s Charity of the Delaware Valley has enriched the lives of children and young adults with disabilities through social, educational, and vocational programs that nurture independence and self-confidence, and prepare them for life. The Shapiro Administration has supported Variety’s mission through Agriculture and Youth Grants of $7,500 each year from 2023 to 2025, funding the creation and expansion of gardens with raised beds, horizontal trellises, wide pathways, lowered potting benches and sink, and other features that make hands-on learning about sustainable agriculture readily accessible to wheelchair- and walker-users.
Additional support through Urban Agriculture Infrastructure Grants totaling $39,820 in 2023, 2024, and 2026 has helped Variety enhance and expand their greenhouses, where students get hands-on experience, both growing organic produce to offer the surrounding community at a low cost in their pop-up farm stands, and as ingredients in items they bake in their campus kitchen. Both Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture grant programs supporting Variety are among PA Farm Bill initiatives to grow a stronger agricultural workforce and future.
“We are honored to partner with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture for this Farm-City event and in our ongoing efforts to create meaningful opportunities for young people,” Variety CEO Dominique Bernardo said. “Through accessible vocational training and hands-on learning experiences in our gardens and greenhouses, we are helping students understand the vital role agriculture plays in our communities while preparing them with skills for future careers.
During Farm City Day, students spent their school day exploring Variety’s sustainable organic and sensory gardens and greenhouses, and interacting with horses and rabbits, and “milking” a life-size cow simulator. They met people whose jobs make our food healthier and more plentiful and learn how they use worms, compost, chemistry, and trees to make soil and water healthier.
“Every student deserves the chance to explore careers that match their interests, talents, and abilities,” said Labor & Industry Secretary Nancy A. Walker. “Farm City Day helps students connect classroom learning to real-world opportunities in agriculture, science, technology, and innovation. By creating hands-on, accessible experiences, we’re helping young people of all abilities see themselves in careers that will strengthen Pennsylvania’s future workforce and shape the future of agriculture.”
