New Greenhouse at Taos Middle School – Building Food Sovereignty One Student at a Time

Thanks to generous private donations that filled a gap left by the reduction of the NM Food Security Grant, A.I.R.E. has installed a new hoop house greenhouse at Taos Middle School. This greenhouse is more than infrastructure—it’s an investment in food sovereignty for the next generation.

Several students working on tilling a row of crops for planting inside a long hoop greenhouse

Why Food Sovereignty Matters:

Food sovereignty means communities have the right and ability to define their own food systems—to grow, distribute, and access healthy food in ways that respect their culture, environment, and needs. For young people, food sovereignty begins with understanding: where does food come from, how is it grown, and what role can I play?

The new hoop house at Taos Middle School provides answers through hands-on experience.

Hands-On Agriculture Education:

Students learn season extension techniques that allow year-round growing in our high-altitude climate, soil health and composting, seed starting and transplanting, crop planning and rotation, and the business side of farming. But perhaps most importantly, students discover they can grow their own food and be part of creating local food security.

From Kindergarten to Career: A Complete Pathway:

This hoop house joins A.I.R.E.’s network of agricultural education facilities across Taos County:

5 school gardens
6 greenhouse structures
Programs reaching 3,800 students annually
After-school farm-to-school programs at Enos Garcia and Ranchos Elementary (launching soon!)
High school culinary arts internships at Amigos Locale through the CTE program

Students can engage with agriculture from kindergarten through high school, with each level building knowledge and skills. By the time they reach Vista Grande High School, some students are ready for professional culinary training—preparing the 800 daily school meals that nourish their peers.

New After-School Farm-to-School Dinner Program:

Building on the success of school gardens and greenhouses, A.I.R.E. has received funding from the Keeler Foundation to launch bi-weekly after-school farm-to-school nutrition, garden, and cooking classes at Enos Garcia and Ranchos Elementary schools.

The program includes scratch-cooked farm-to-school dinners served during after-school care, with families and students sharing monthly meals together featuring recipes made by students using ingredients from school gardens. Vista Grande High School interns from Amigos Locale will mentor younger students and help prepare the meals.

This pilot program serves as a model for expanding CACFP (Child and Adult Care Food Program) farm-to-school dinner meals throughout the county—potentially producing 1,000 meals daily from the Amigos Locale commissary kitchen.

Building Workforce Capacity:

Only 50% of New Mexico schools are able to provide scratch-cooked meals made from locally sourced products. The rest rely on shelf-stable, ultra-processed food sourced from outside the state.

To address this, UNM Taos is interested in expanding its Culinary Arts program to build a workforce of cooks who can prepare scratch-cooked meals for school cafeterias. Combined with A.I.R.E.’s student internship programs and food safety certification training (through Cornell University, FDA, and USDA partnerships), we’re creating pathways for young people to build careers in the regional food system.

Man crouching near a row of crops inside a long hoop greenhouse

From Seed to Sovereignty:

When students at Taos Middle School harvest vegetables from their greenhouse, they’re not just learning agriculture—they’re participating in food sovereignty. They’re proving that their community can grow its own food, that traditional crops like blue corn (grown by Taos Pueblo farmers and used by traditional baker Geronimo Romero) have a place in modern food systems, and that young people can be leaders in building resilient, local food security.

Community Support Makes It Possible:

When state funding was reduced, our community responded with private donations that funded the Taos Middle School hoop house and critical repairs to the walk-in cooler at Taos Pueblo Day School. These contributions have immediate impact: more students growing food, more fresh ingredients in school meals, more pathways to food sovereignty.

How You Can Help:

Your donations directly support greenhouse maintenance and supplies, seeds and starts for student gardens, educational materials and curriculum, garden tools and irrigation systems, and culinary arts internship programs.

To support A.I.R.E.’s education programs, visit growingcommunitynow.org or contact Micah Roseberry at micah@airetaos.org.

As Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham reminds us: “When we feed our children, we’re feeding our future—these investments today will yield benefits tomorrow through generations of healthier New Mexicans.”

The greenhouse at Taos Middle School is growing more than vegetables. It’s growing food sovereignty, one student at a time.