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HPSD Launches Vertical Farm, "Always Growing"

High Prairie School Division (HPSD) is proud to announce the official launch of its new vertical farm, ๐€๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐†๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ , with the first harvest taking place this week. The project marks an exciting milestone for the Division, introducing an innovative, technology-driven approach to agriculture that will directly benefit students, schools, and the wider community. ๐ŸŒฑ

EW Pratt High School students enrolled in ๐€๐ ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐’๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ž๐ฌ and ๐‡๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐’๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ž๐ฌ will take an active role in the operation, assisting with planting, maintaining, and harvesting crops throughout the year. In addition to production, students will gain experience in marketing and preparing produce for sale, providing valuable insight into the full farm-to-market process. This direct involvement provides students with meaningful, real-world experience in controlled environment agriculture, sustainable food production, and emerging agri-technology.ย 

The farmโ€™s initial crops will be ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ๐ญ๐ฎ๐œ๐ž and ๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐Ÿ ๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ๐ญ๐ฎ๐œ๐ž. All produce grown by Always Growing is cultivated without chemicals or pesticides, ensuring clean, safe, high-quality greens for students and the community. Always Growing is expected to produce approximately ๐Ÿ”๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ ๐ก๐ž๐š๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ๐ญ๐ฎ๐œ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ž๐ค.

Always Growing lettuce will be provided to the Divisionโ€™s four school salad bars as well as sold to local wholesale markets and community partners.

In keeping with HPSDโ€™s commitment to community support, the vertical farm will donate ๐Ÿ“๐ŸŽ ๐ก๐ž๐š๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ๐ญ๐ฎ๐œ๐ž ๐ž๐š๐œ๐ก ๐ฐ๐ž๐ž๐ค to the High Prairie & District Food Bank Society and ๐‡๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ซ๐ข๐ž & ๐ƒ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ญ ๐‚๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐ž๐งโ€™๐ฌ ๐‘๐ž๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐œ๐ž ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐œ๐ข๐ฅ, helping increase access to fresh, healthy produce. ๐Ÿฅฌ

This project would not have been possible without the support of key local partners and businesses. ๐‡๐๐’๐ƒ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ค๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐š๐ง๐ข๐ณ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ for making this venture possible for our students:

โ€ข Buchanan Family Foundation

โ€ข Amp'd Up Electric

โ€ข Bob Buchan

โ€ข CX Energy Services Ltd.

โ€ข Delorme Enterprises Ltd.

โ€ข Rod and Danielle Marx

โ€ข Strategic Agronomy

โ€ข X-Cel Energy Services Ltd.

HPSD also extends a special ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ค-๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ง๐š๐ง ๐Œ๐œ๐ƒ๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ๐, ๐ƒ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐œ๐ข๐ฉ๐š๐ฅ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐‚๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐ข๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ง๐ ๐’๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฃ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฌ, whose vision, leadership, and dedication brought this project from concept to reality.

With its first harvest happening today, Always Growing represents an exciting step forward for student learning, local food production, and community collaboration across the region.

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