Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect other school gardens are in the area. We apologize for the error.

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Fourth- through eighth-grade students at IDEA Bridge Public Schools learn the importance of healthy eating and how the produce grown from their school farm will be used for school meals.

The farm’s director Deborah Ray said the students can enjoy all the hand-grown produce and get a hands-on educational experience.

“Our Child Nutrition program already provides food security for these students throughout the day, but through access to fresh produce from the farm directly, they learn those skills and they have even fresher local produce that they can enjoy,” Ray said.

School farmer Kaylee Deynzer pushed for this farm’s success for a year until she was hired. Now, she shares how excited she is and says it was all worth the wait.

“It’s a big sign of accomplishment because we have had a lot of setbacks and we’ve all worked really hard to get to this point. So there’s a lot to celebrate, but it’s a ribbon-cutting ceremony, so it’s just the beginning. And I’m really excited for the future of this farm,” Deynzer said.

Ray said the crops grown throughout the year will have a fully automated irrigation system that will send organic fertilizers through the irrigation line, allowing students to learn different ways they can apply their classroom learning to real-life settings.