LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky State University students and agriculture research staff are helping revitalize neighborhood gardens in Lexington through a USDA-supported program focused on food access, food delivery systems and community skills.
The work is taking place in communities including Winburn and Whitney Young Park. Students and staff are planting, watering, labeling plants and testing soil as part of a continued program under a USDA grant with the Applied STEM and Community Lab, which is partnering with the Community Action Council.
“This particular grant is a USDA grant that supported Kentucky State University educating young people, really in food access and food delivery system,” said Jeffery Coles.
Emmanuelle Tudzi, a master’s student researcher and environmental science major at Kentucky State University, is one of the students bringing agriculture expertise to the gardens.
“This would have been a super, very big field, but this is what we have,” Tudzi said. “So I’m just going to try and use it to try and get some sample.”
Sait Sarr, a senior research scientist, said the project is not only about teaching people how to grow fresh food but also about helping communities build skills and opportunities.
“It can address food insecurity,” Sarr said. “Not only that, but it can also empower the communities, creating jobs. It can bring income. You know, not everybody has a degree to work in an office or to work in all the areas, but some have some kind of expertise that they can use to grow local food.”
Tudzi, who is originally from Ghana, said her interest in cultivation and soil began years ago.
“Oh, agriculture is not just the thing about where you are from,” Tudzi said. “It’s a general, and it’s a global thing.”
Tudzi said she also talks with young people about the role soil plays in growing food.
“Young kids ask me, ‘Oh, so what does this mean?’ It’s soil,” Tudzi said. “I’m telling them, no, it is life. It is giving life to all these things that we consume as food.”
Kentucky State University has provided additional gardening containers at the Winburn Garden location. Leaders said they will continue to care for the two gardens, with multiple additional garden containers in process.
