Wyoming school districts boost nutrition, education with Flex Farm hydroponic systems

School districts across Wyoming are incorporating hydroponic growing systems in cafeterias to get students involved with nutrition education while integrating fresh, hyper-local produce into school meal offerings.

The Natrona County School District (NCSD) recently installed a Flex Farm hydroponic growing system in their school cafeteria.

A product of the Wisconsin-based agriculture technology company Fork Farms, the Flex Farm hydroponic growing system allows programs like NCSD to grow fresh produce year-round while increasing student awareness about nutrition and where food comes from. 

About Flex Farms

The Flex Farm system is a compact vertical hydroponic growing system using light and water to grow produce.

“Long story short, hydroponics is growing plants in water,” explains Fork Farms Partnership Development Leader Alex Ziebell. 

Ziebell is based in Wisconsin but works with partners across the country to incorporate Flex Farms into food service programs.

He gave a presentation on Flex Farms during the Wyoming Farm to School Conference in October 2025, providing details on the system’s features and impacts to educators and food service directors gathered in Casper. 

According to Fork Farms, Flex Farms take up less than 10 square feet of space and need only an electrical outlet to function, eliminating the need for soil, real sunlight and large plots of land – factors which make the systems convenient options for places like cafeterias. 

One standard indoor Flex Farm system is capable of producing roughly 25 pounds of produce every 28 days.

The product’s design eliminates the variables of weather and seasons, enabling growers access to a wide variety of fresh produce year-round. 

The controlled environment also eliminates the need for pesticides, enabling food service directors to keep chemicals out of the lunch line.

Ziebell notes 12 programs across Wyoming either have active Flex Farms or are in the process of establishing one, including school districts in Carbon, Fremont and Natrona counties.

Of these programs, Ziebell says five have been established in the past three months, bringing fresh vegetables to Wyomingites in the heart of winter. 

Local impact

The NCSD Flex Farm was installed in mid-November 2025 and harvested its first crop in late December.

According to NCSD Food Services Director Desiree McAdams, the Flex Farm was made possible through grant funding from the Wyoming Farm to School program. 

NCSD Food and Nutrition Services Kitchen Manager Mickey Anderson has overseen the installation of the system and the growth of the first plants, and the system’s centralized location in the cafeteria will allow students to watch the growing process from seed to harvest throughout the school year. 

The NCSD Flex Farm recently produced its first harvest of romaine lettuce and basil, while tomatoes and green pepper plants are also beginning to bloom.

As emphasized in Ziebell’s presentation, harvesting produce locally through Flex Farms cuts food transport time out of the equation, eliminating the need for synthetic preservatives and leading to convenient and consistent access to fresh foods in schools.

By increasing access and allowing students to oversee the growing process, McAdams hopes to inspire a taste for fresh produce and healthy habits in NCSD students.

“My biggest goal is to get kids excited about trying fresh produce,” McAdams says. “I’m hoping if they see it grow, they’ll get excited about eating nutritious food.”

Increasing education

In addition, McAdams says connecting kids with an awareness about where their food comes from is another top priority. 

“Most of the time, students just see their food coming from the store,” says McAdams.

Closing this knowledge gap is a central goal of all Farm to School programming, and McAdams notes NCSD has taken part in other efforts to incorporate local foods through the program.

The district’s breakfast and lunch programs have used beef products from Frank’s Butcher Shop in Casper, sweet corn from 1890 Farms in Riverton, mushrooms and green peppers from Eat Wyoming and beans from Equality State Farms in Gillette and Kelly Bean Co. in Torrington. 

Further, McAdams notes NCSD also participated in the 2024 Farm to School Crunch Off Challenge, in which Wyoming was declared the Mountain Plains Region Champion. 

Grace Skavdahl is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.