(WARRENSBURG, Mo.) – The Kansas City High School Agro Program, designed by Bill Nigro, a Kansas City restauranteur, and Melvin Woods, former dean of Pembroke Hill School, is an initiative to build self-sustaining greenhouses at Kansas City-area high schools that will be partnered with new culinary schools.

Nigro and Woods presented the program to students in the marketing department in April of 2017, but it wasn’t until last fall that students really began working on it.

“UCM as a whole is developing the curriculum,” said Mathew Larman, the UCM Agro Pro project manager. “I think we’re actually going to design the greenhouse once we get the funding. We’re actually going to be part of the proposal for the funding.”

The Agro Program will serve as a model for food production in urban areas, which is a problem that’s expected to grow as the world’s population does. According to a 2009 statement from the U.N. General Assembly, “food production must double by 2050 to meet the demand of the world’s growing population.”

Larman said that they’ve talked to the agriculture education program, the safety sciences program and business programs about various aspects of the developing curriculum, construction and maintenance of the facilities.

Meanwhile, the agriculture department had been working on developing a composting system. UCM’s Enactus group was awarded a $1,500 grant from Unilever, the company behind brands such as Axe and Dove, and are planning to use that money on a composting facility and collection containers.

“It was kind of fun because it was a different idea we had,” said Trey Hecker, a junior construction management major and Enactus president. “Then we had this Agro Pro going on over here, and we thought we could try and incorporate it with it.”

Beyond the waste reduction aspect of using compost, Larman said there is a financial motivation for the schools as well.

“They wanted the project to be completely green because of the funding cuts to the school districts. They wanted it to be self-sustaining,” he said.

One item being collected has become increasingly prevalent, and not just locally.

“What we figured out after doing some research is that used coffee grounds, once they’re rinsed off, can be direct fertilizer for plants,” said Taylor Williams, Enactus vice president and junior marketing major.

The goal for the Kansas City High School Agro Program is for nine area schools to each have a greenhouse, but the current focus is on procuring funding and getting one built, which will eventually serve as a model for future greenhouses.

“The way we’ve recently started going about it is instead of trying to get funding for the whole project, we figured it would be better to start with just the one and build a solid foundation,” Williams said. “People will be more willing to give to it if they can see that this is a working operation.”

Larman said the project has evolved since being presented and since they’ve started working on it, and the project continues to evolve.

Hecker said a future aspect of the program is to provide opportunities for grants and scholarships, as well as dual-credit courses.

Contact Trey Hecker at trh56730@ucmo.edu or Mathew Larman at mwl69820@ucmo.edu for more information about the project and how to get involved.