Texas Department of Agriculture tours Longview ISD garden

LONGVIEW, Texas (KLTV) - The Longview Independent School District had a special visit to their garden this morning: A representative from the Texas Department of Agriculture.

The information gathered there will be shared with the Texas Agriculture Commissioner.

Donna Thomas is with the Texas Department of Agriculture, and was taking a close look at Longview ISD’s five-acre garden located behind the Administration Building for Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller.

“My plan is to take pictures, share with him the things that I am seeing today. And so that can be shared across the state. And so that is our hope,” Thomas said.

LISD Child Nutrition Director Phyllis Dozier extended an invitation to TDA to see the garden and is pretty excited about the visit.

“It said that we’re doing things that they’re proud of and that they want us to be doing. I mean this is what they want us to do, is feed the kids the freshest that we can, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Dozier said.

“We are excited that Longview has a garden for students to see and their food to eat,” Thomas said.

Phyllis said some students had never seen a garden before touring this one.

“This is opportunity for learning experience for students within Longview. And then I think it should be shared throughout the state of Texas,” Thomas said.

LISD said food is often served to students just hours after its picked.

“I think it’s a great model, and hopefully when other districts see what’s going on that they will also contact Longview to see what they can do to get a garden started,” Thomas said.

“We’ve had a district this week come and look. We’ve had another district at another time. But we have districts that are coming and looking at what we have,” Dozier said.

So, the seed planted for a school district garden that may grow across the state.

Dozier said 62 percent of student’s families in the Longview Independent School District are on food stamps. She feels fresh produce from the garden helps fill their nutritional requirements.

Copyright 2023 KLTV. All rights reserved.