Shelby County schools have broken ground on a new $3 million agriculture facility that will give students hands-on learning in farming and agricultural sciences, built on a 30-acre farm the district plans to transform with live animals, crops and even its own farmers markets. The project is expected to be operational by the 2028 school year.
The facility will feature live animals, including cows and horses, and will grow various types of crops and produce, according to WLKY. The district also plans to host farmers markets with crops grown on-site, giving students a direct pipeline from planting to selling what they grow. Superintendent Josh Matthews said the 30-acre farm is not new to the district, but its use is changing as officials look to broaden what students can experience there.
From One Classroom to a Working Farm
Right now, agriculture students are working with just a classroom and a shop that doubles as another classroom, leaving little room for hands-on activities, according to student Leona Breckenridge. Matthews said the new facility means the district can introduce all types of agriculture, all types of farming, rather than limiting students to traditional row cropping.
Agriculture teacher Bethany Fields said the expanded space will give students a new perspective on farming sciences. Her students have shown particular interest in environmental and plant sciences, among other aspects of agricultural study, and she believes the facility could transform how they learn altogether. Fields hopes it eventually grows into a flourishing program that helps students discover career opportunities they might not have considered otherwise.
More Room for FFA and Future Farmers
Student Macy Toll said the facility will open up a lot more opportunities, not only for FFA members but for agriculture students more broadly. Neither Toll nor Breckenridge expect to use the finished facility themselves since both are juniors, but they described the project as a win for students who come after them.
The investment lands at a moment when Kentucky is pushing agricultural education on multiple fronts. Around 26,000 Kentucky students enroll in high school agriculture programs each year, with about 15,000 of them participating in roughly 160 FFA chapters statewide, per Kentucky Living. The state uses what that outlet describes as a three-pronged approach to agricultural education, blending classroom instruction, FFA leadership development and supervised workplace learning projects.
State Support for Ag Education Is Growing
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear's proposed budget includes an “FFA for All” initiative that would cover FFA membership fees statewide, investing $200,000 in its first year and $250,000 the next, according to LEX 18. The state currently counts roughly 24,000 FFA members and about 34,000 students enrolled in agriculture education courses overall, the station reports.
The Kentucky Department of Agriculture has also funded similar hands-on projects elsewhere, awarding grants in 2024 to six school districts to expand their capacity to grow and store locally grown Farm to School products, according to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Those subgrants ranged from $10,298 for two hydroponic tower systems in Crittenden County up to $50,000 for projects in Marion and Union counties, funding equipment for hydroponic systems, plasticulture and more traditional farming practices.
Shelby County itself already has a track record of significant agricultural production outside the classroom. One family operation in the county, Dutch Creek Farm, sells around 60,000 dozen eggs annually from roughly 7,000 free-range, non-GMO-fed pastured hens, according to Kentucky Living's reporting.
A National Trend Toward Campus Farms
Shelby County's groundbreaking fits a broader national pattern of districts building out agricultural infrastructure. In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, construction is underway on a $5.5 million barn at the Career and Technical Education Academy that is set to open in fall 2026 and will house both large and small livestock alongside an industrial greenhouse, per the Mitchell Republic. That project is partly funded by a $1 million grant from the 2023 South Dakota Legislature earmarked for farm equipment.
Modesto High School in California recently unveiled its own $5.5 million agricultural farm building spanning more than 13,000 square feet, built as a hub where students gain real-world experience in plant and animal science, according to Fox40. Students there work directly with animals, grow crops and explore sustainable farming practices.
Smaller districts are pursuing the same idea on a tighter budget. The Golden City R-III School District in Missouri used a $50,000 grant to launch a school farm and animal science classroom on what had been seven empty acres, now fenced in with cattle, pigs and chickens, according to KRCU. The district, which serves just 175 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, plans to add goats and sheep the following year for student FFA projects, and roughly 75% of its high schoolers are now enrolled in FFA-related coursework. Nationally, FFA now counts more than 1 million student members across more than 9,400 chapters, the station reports.
For Shelby County, the groundbreaking marks the start of a multi-year build toward that same vision: a working farm where students raise animals, grow produce and sell it back to their own community, with the district aiming to have it all running by the 2028 school year.
