Howland Glen Primary second grader Caleb Orr makes a pile of leaf lettuce at a recent harvesting event.

HOWLAND — Howland Local School District students are growing, harvesting — and eating — hydropronic-grown lettuce.

Harvesting events took place last week at Glen Primary School and H.C. Mines Elementary School under the guidance of the district’s food service supervisor, Justin Pancake. The lettuce the students harvested was served in salads during a pizza lunch.

The food service department has installed hydroponic systems in four schools — Howland High School, Howland Middle School and the two elementary buildings — with the elementary buildings receiving them approximately four to five weeks ago. Last week’s harvest represents the first use of produce from these systems in elementary school meals. Since the installation, students have participated in the growing process.

According to Pancake, each hydroponic system is capable of producing approximately 25 pounds of lettuce every four to five weeks. The food service department is expanding its growing efforts to include kale and Swiss chard over the next growing cycle.

“Beyond providing fresh vegetables and produce to students, the hydroponic gardening initiative serves as a valuable learning tool. Students get to witness the growth of plants from seed to harvest,” a news release from the district states.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, hydroponic gardening is a method of growing plants without soil. It’s a way to nurture a huge variety of edible plants indoors all year round.

A hydroponic system doesn’t take a lot of space (unless you want it to), it will work just about anywhere, and plants will actually grow faster than if you were growing in-ground. It’s not hard to see why hydroponic gardening is fast becoming a popular way to grow plants everywhere from kitchen counters to university dining halls.

So why is it called hydroponics? “Hydro” is the Greek word for water, and “ponos” means work. In hydroponic gardening, the water does the work — in this case, the work of delivering nutrients to the plant roots, the U.S.D.A. website states.

There are different kinds of hydroponic systems. In some, plant roots actually dangle in the water. In other hydroponic gardens, plants grow in some kind of soil substitute, such as peat moss, coir (coconut fiber), aged bark, perlite or clay pebbles.

And because there’s none of the soil that many plant pests and diseases need to survive, when you ditch the dirt, you cut way down on your chance of experiencing those problems. Another benefit is that many hydroponic gardens actually require less water than traditional gardens.

Many experts in agriculture consider hydroponic gardening to be much more than just a cool way for home gardeners to grow a few plants. They see it as the future of food production, because hydroponic gardens can be made to fit just about anywhere and allow even unfarmable areas to grow nourishing food. Chances are, if you’ve bought cucumbers, strawberries, tomatoes or fresh herbs at the grocery store lately, you’ve already tasted the fruits of hydroponic growing.

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