750 New Garden Grants Are Taking Root!
Growing the Next Generation of Healthy Eaters
There's something about growing your own food that makes you want to taste it — and that's just as true for a seven-year-old as it is for the rest of us. When students spend time in edible gardens, they develop a real relationship with what they eat. They learn where food comes from, they experiment with new flavors, and research tells us they end up eating more vegetables each day because of it. Best of all, those habits don't stop at the school gate.
Our annual Garden Grant program provides funding to K-12 schools and non-profit organizations to implement an on-campus garden for the first time or to make meaningful transformations to existing gardens. From raised beds to greenhouses to hydroponic towers, these grants support edible learning spaces where children discover the joy of fresh, nutritious food.
To help grow the next generation of healthy eaters, we’re thrilled to announce we’re awarding over $2.6 million in Garden Grants to 750 schools and non-profit organizations this year, impacting more than 435,000 students across the United States and Canada!
2026 Grantee Spotlight
This year’s recipients are already dreaming big. Here’s a look at two schools’ plans for putting their Garden Grants to work.
PS/MS 46 Arthur Tappan - Harlem, New York
“We can’t wait to bring this project to life with the students, families, and staff at PS/MS 46. Thank you for your support of school gardens and for making this opportunity possible.”
— Atsuko Quirk, Executive Director, Cafeteria Culture, PS/MS 46 Arthur Tappan
At PS/MS 46 Arthur Tappan, a Title I school in Harlem, New York serving 321 Pre-K–8 students, the Garden Grant will help establish a thriving edible garden that doubles as a living model of a closed-loop community food system. Students will grow culturally relevant fruits and vegetables, selected with input from families who share recipes and food traditions, and taste fresh produce right on campus. Cafeteria food scraps are already transported weekly to the nearby Polo Grounds community composting site, and the finished compost will be returned to nourish the garden, creating a continuous cycle of growing, eating, and composting.
In a neighborhood where over 25% of residents face food insecurity and access to fresh groceries is limited, this garden will give at least 150 students each year hands-on experience planting, harvesting, and eating healthy food. All programming will be offered bilingually in English and Spanish, and teachers will be trained to weave the garden into everyday instruction — ensuring the space grows right alongside the community it serves.
Mount Madonna School - Watsonville, California
“We are excited to have received this grant and appreciate the opportunity to continue to work on realizing our garden’s potential in helping educate our students and community.”
— Reggie Sunga, Culinary & Garden Science Teacher and School Chef, Mount Madonna School
Nestled in the hills above California’s Central Coast, Mount Madonna School is building a fully realized upper school garden, a living laboratory for Grades 6–12 anchored by an existing greenhouse, raised beds, fruit trees, and herb garden. With their Garden Grant, students will create a secure, deer-fenced growing space with an outdoor classroom deck overlooking the campus pond, where they’ll grow food year-round and lead harvest-to-table demonstrations.
The garden sits at the heart of a K–12 continuum, with upper schoolers serving as mentors to younger students in the children’s garden. Located between two counties with significant food access challenges, where many families work in agriculture yet struggle to afford fresh produce at home, the program gives older students hands-on food literacy at the age when lifelong habits take shape. Students who grow food are more likely to eat and advocate for fresh vegetables throughout life, and Mount Madonna aims to send graduates into the world with real ecological knowledge and a lasting connection to the land they tended.
Growing Together with Our Partners
None of this work happens alone. We’re grateful to partner with organizations who believe that every child deserves a connection to fresh, healthy food. This year, two incredible partners are helping us go further.
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Newman’s Own Foundation’s mission is to nourish and transform the lives of children who face adversity. Thanks to Newman’s Own Foundation’s generous $100,000 donation, select Garden Grant recipients in the United States will be able to further strengthen their garden programs. With a focus on nutrition education, school food, and indigenous food justice, this collaboration enables the Garden Grant program to increase its impact and support more schools in communities with limited access to fresh food and garden education resources.
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We’re excited to welcome Tower Garden as a partner this year! Tower Garden, a leader in aeroponic gardening, is donating 200 tower gardens totaling $200,000 to selected Garden Grant school recipients. These vertical, aeroponic growing systems allow students to grow fresh produce year-round, even in schools with limited outdoor space. It’s a powerful way to bring the garden indoors and keep kids connected to their food no matter the season or setting.
A Legacy of Growth
With this year’s 750 grants, we’ve now awarded more than 10,400 Garden Grants since the program’s creation in 2011, investing over $26 million and benefiting more than 5.9 million students!
These gardens do so much more than grow fresh produce. They cultivate curiosity, expand knowledge of our food system, build healthy habits, inspire a new generation of food advocates, and create lasting connections between children and the earth. We’ve seen firsthand the incredible ways school gardens can be seamlessly woven into existing curriculum, from science and math to art and nutrition education.
With the ongoing support of our partners and donors, we look forward to nurturing more of these vital learning spaces where children can discover the importance of fresh, nutritious food—one seed at a time.
Let’s Grow Something Good
Our Garden Grant program awards grants annually to K-12 schools and non-profit organizations across the United States and Canada to implement school gardens. Discover if the Garden Grant is a match for your school or non-profit’s goals by learning more about eligibility requirements and signing up for our information webinars. The grant window opens each year in February, and grantees are notified in August.