Imagine a place where students become entrepreneurs, communities support local, and hands-on learning flourishes. That’s the magic of a student farmers market.
Whether your school already has a thriving garden or is just starting out with hydroponic systems, a school farmers market is a powerful way to bring your STEM curriculum to life and build entrepreneurial skills.
Student-led farmers markets combine science, nutrition, and business in one vibrant community-focused event.
Organize Student Participation
Students are the heart and soul of any school farmers market activity. Give them ownership over the process to boost enthusiasm and deepen educational impact.
Form a Farmers Market Club or Task Force
Invite students to join a team where they can take on roles in the market and engage in hands-on learning through marketing, sales, design, and management.
Offer Leadership Opportunities
Encourage older students to mentor younger ones, lead meetings and activities, or present their ideas. This builds confidence and leadership skills that extend beyond your school garden or farmers market.
Integrate Curriculum & Classroom Activities
Collaborate with other teachers to turn the farmers market into a school-wide learning opportunity. By integrating curriculum across subjects, students will have more hands-on opportunities to engage.
Here are a few examples of how multiple classes can get involved:
- Math: Track produce yields, set farmers market prices, and calculate profits.
- English/Language Arts: Write promotional materials and vendor descriptions to support the market and essays about the experience.
- Science: Grow the produce to sell at the market and study plant growth, ecosystems, and sustainability initiatives.
- Art: Create signage, flyers, and creative displays to help promote the student farmers market.
- Social Studies: Explore food systems, geography of crops, and local economics that can impact the market in your town and beyond.
- Technology: Build and launch a website or social media campaign to promote the farmers market to the community and integrate other technology, such as AI and apps to set up alerts, track key data, and more.
- Engineering/Shop: Let students take the lead in designing and constructing market stands, planter boxes, compost bins, and signage holders.
- Business: Work with students to develop a business plan, estimate costs, track profits, and hone their customer service skills they’ll use in future jobs.
Source Produce from School Gardens and Hydroponic Systems
A thriving school garden or hydroponic setup can provide a rich foundation of items to sell at your market.
Focus on fast-growing, high-yield crops like leafy greens, radishes, herbs, and tomatoes and work with your students to align planting and harvest schedules with your market dates. The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is a great resource to help figure out what will grow best in your area.
“We call [the students] Farmprenuers because essentially they’re turning their hydroponic systems and their school gardens into businesses,” Ciara Byrne, Green Our Planet CEO said.
Don’t have a school garden yet? That’s ok. We can help you start a school garden with our GardenConnect and HydroConnect programs.
Go Beyond Produce
You can also supplement your produce offerings with garden-themed products created by students, such as:
- DIY seed starter kit
- Garden-fresh or family-friendly recipe guides & cookbooks
- Garden-themed color books
- Pressed flower bookmarks or cards
- Painted garden stones, signs, or plant markers
- Upcycled planters, pots, vases, and plant hangers
- Homemade jewelry
- Birdhouses
- Outdoor or garden-themed paintings and artwork
Many popular farmers markets today also feature local artisans, so this is a great way to allow students to explore other areas, engage their creative side, and support sustainability efforts through reusing and recycling.
Engage the Local Community
Think beyond your school. A farmers market can be a hub for the entire community, garnering awareness and support for educational initiatives and helping those in your community who may be experiencing food insecurity.
Combine With Other School Events
To ensure a good turnout, pair your school farmers market with other school-sponsored events, like parent-teacher nights, school open houses, or sporting events. Take-home flyers, email newsletters, and social media are great ways to spread the word about the farmers market throughout the community.
Engage Community Partners
Involve local farmers, chefs, or other related businesses in your school farmers market to foster goodwill and community support. These professionals are a great resource for both financial support and educational opportunities, such as workshops, field trips, and cooking demos for students.
“I would say these vegetables are better than what you could get at the store,” said Chef Gina Marinelli, who attended Green Our Planet’s Giant Student Farmers Market in Spring 2024. “You can tell these kids picked them, they owned them, they loved them, and they grew them.”
Make It an Event
Allow students to show off what they’ve learned by turning the market into a celebration. Music, student-led tours of the garden, and other interactive activities can help draw in families and grab the attention of people passing by.
Reinvest in the Program
Use any profits from the farmers market to support future educational initiatives. To keep students at the center of the process and reinforce the impact of their work, let them vote on how to use the earnings. A few ideas include:
- Buying new seeds for your school garden
- Upgrading garden tools and equipment
- Donating to a community cause
Join the Giant Student Farmers Market with Green Our Planet
Starting a school farmers market is so much more than just a fun project. From seed to sale, students gain a deeper appreciation for food, community, and their own potential.
At Green Our Planet, our Giant Student Farmers Market is the largest student-run farmers market in the country, featuring schools from our programs participating and earning money for their school initiatives. We’ve been running these events since 2014 — with 100% of educators reporting that the event was impactful for their students.
We’d love to have you visit our Giant Student Farmers Market. All the upcoming dates and information is available on our website.
Want to start your own school farmers market? Reach out to learn how our garden and hydroponic curriculum can help you grow confident learners and vibrant communities!
Learn More About School Farmers Markets
- From Farmers Markets to Financial Empowerment: How One Vision Sparked a Movement
- Behind the Scenes: How We Bring the Giant Student Farmers Market to Life
