Junior Farmers
Youth Agriculture Program at Recreation Centers
Program Overview
Junior Farmers is a Farm Philly gardening program that works with Philadelphia’s youth to care for vegetable gardens, small orchards, and pollinator gardens. It is accessible through after-school programs and summer camps at 10 participating Recreation Centers throughout Philadelphia. Farm Philly provides plants, gardening tools, and educational materials to support regular programming and maintenance.
The program teaches over 500 youth annually about the benefits of growing and eating fresh food and how to care for the environment and their neighborhoods.
Hundreds of pounds of food are grown in gardens at recreation centers for students and community members. Some of the gardens have even donated produce to community food programs.
Program History
There is a long history of gardening at recreation centers prior to the existence of Farm Philly. Some of the Junior Farmer gardens were put in a number of years ago as part of the Penn State Extension “Harvest for Health” program. Others were put in by passionate recreation leaders. Farm Philly brought all these recreation center gardens together under one unified Junior Farmers program in 2014. During the founding years of Farm Philly, the program created additional gardens and now has gardens located in many neighborhoods of Philadelphia.
Creating a Junior Farmers' Garden at Your Rec Center
- Recreation centers and other City-operated youth-serving agencies interested in joining the Junior Farmers program should start by filling out an Interest Form.
- Once completed, please email the Interest Form to farmphilly@phila.gov, with Junior Farmers Interest Form in the subject line.
- A staff member will reach out within two weeks for a meeting to determine your site’s eligibility to join the program. If selected, Farm Philly staff will create a schedule with the recreation staff to build and install garden beds for the Junior Farmers’ growing area.
How to Participate in an Existing Junior Farmer Site
- Youth interested in Junior Farmers must be enrolled in an after-school or summer camp program at participating recreation centers.
- Current Recreation Centers participating in Junior Farmers: