Greenfield students learn from Honduras kids using Skype

Monterey County believes the future of our billion-dollar agriculture industry can be found right here on the Central Coast and abroad. It’s why a group of middle schoolers from Greenfield are finding common ground with students from Honduras learning at a young age what farming can mean to a community.

For Jovanna Acevedo, an American girl from Greenfield, the Internet is her connection to the outside world.

“Have you been to Honduras before?” asked NewsChannel 5 reporter Monica Jacques.

“No. But I would like to go,” said Acevedo.

Acevedo along with 20 other teens spent the morning chatting with kids in Honduras via Skype about an unlikely subject for middle school students-sustainable farming. It’s all made possible through a program called common ground: connecting community through gardens.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for the kids. It really opens up new channels of education,” said Meg Clovis, with Monterey County Parks.

Clovis initiated the program in 2013 in partnership with the city of Greenfield, Monterey County Agriculture and Rural Life Museum, which supplies the farm for the kids. The AG education and even bigger deal given it’s the biggest job producer in the Salinas Valley.

“Anytime you can get kids outdoors and digging in the soil and working with plants and with each other. You’re doing a great service for them and the community at large,” said Sharon Turner with Rural Life Museum.

The kids talked about everything from growing techniques and even cooking recipes. But it wasn’t all shop talk.

“We were singing. They like most of the music I like,” Acevedo said.

They may be from separate countries. But they aren’t so different after all. The teachers from Honduras will be visiting the central coast in May. The kids here in Greenfield will make them a meal using all the vegetables they grew.