BYU students build community while creating a hydroponic greenhouse for the Food and Care Coalition.
A young man walks through the doors of the Food and Care Coalition in Provo, Utah, and receives his first substantial meal since leaving his step-dad’s home two months ago. It's September and the meal contains fresh produce donated by local community members.
In February, a woman in her 60s who just lost her house walks into the Food and Care Coalition and enjoys a filling dinner, but something is different. Harvest season is past and there are no fresh vegetables to provide her with valuable nutrients.
Recognizing the need to provide nutrient-rich meals year-round to all those who walk through the doors of the Food and Care Coalition, executive director Brent Crane started working with a team of BYU students to build a solution. Together, they constructed a hydroponics greenhouse as part of the permanent housing project in which residents will have the opportunity to develop new skills and engage in service.
Homegrown Spirit
The Food and Care Coalition was founded in the 1980s when local religious leaders, public officials, and concerned citizens came together to address the needs of individuals facing homelessness and food insecurity. In 2023 alone, the Coalition provided 99,585 meals and 40,024 nights of housing. In addition to food and housing, the Coalition provides mental health services, medical care, and life skill classes to improve the clients' health and assist them in their journey to independence. The Coalition is run by a small staff with the aid of thousands of volunteers, including many BYU students. “What we’ve really tried to do,” Crane says, “is create a real community-owned response to how we meet the needs of the unsheltered in our community.”
What we’ve really tried to do is create a real community-owned response to how we meet the needs of the unsheltered in our community.
Wondering how he might go about constructing a greenhouse or community garden, Crane connected with Dr. Matt Arrington, assistant professor of plant and wildlife sciences and BYU Life Sciences greenhouse director. They discussed Arrington’s specialty: hydroponics. Rather than using soil, hydroponics uses nutrient-supplemented water to grow plants. It is a fast-growing industry and many stores already sell hydroponically grown produce.
Arrington says, “In the coming years, there will be few areas as important for enhancing food security for God's children as hydroponic production.” He points out that “hydroponic farming is an important technological advancement in agriculture because it allows us to farm without seasonality, extending the production season to the whole year.” Hydroponic farming also reduces the impact of inclement weather on crops and the need for pesticides. Additionally, hydroponic farms require less space and can easily be built close to consumers. With this increased proximity, Arrington explains, “We can harvest at peak ripeness and serve the most flavorful and most nutritious produce with the longest shelf life in your home.”
"In the coming years, there will be few areas as important for enhancing food security for God's children as hydroponic production."
Building Skills
After the Coalition built the indoor farm structure Arrington designed for them, Nathan Grooms (PWS ’25), a BYU student studying plant and landscape systems, began working with Arrington to design the Coalition’s hydroponic system. Jack Windsor (PWS ‘25) and Hope Jones (PWS ‘25), BYU students and members of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Club, joined them later that year to help make the greenhouse a reality. With only a few racks from a previous hydroponic system, Arrington, Grooms, Windsor, and Jones utilized their ingenuity to create the hydroponic system that would eventually nourish the Food and Care Coalition community members with fresh produce and provide clients with an opportunity to learn
self-reliance skills.
Here to Help
Although he was accepted to other universities with more established hydroponic programs, Grooms chose to come to BYU. "At the end of the day, " he says, "I realized that God put me here so that I could serve others. That is the mission of BYU: enter to learn; go forth to serve." Grooms sees his work on the greenhouse as an opportunity to help and serve those who may feel like God has forgotten them—and maybe even be an answer to their prayers. He reflects, "God has promised people things, and sometimes He allows other people to fulfill those promises for Him."All three students experienced personal growth while working on this project, acknowledging how the hard work and limited supplies stretched them. While many school assignments come with all the materials and instructions needed to successfully complete the set task, designing and building this hydroponic system required the students to problem-solve in creative and resourceful ways. “It’s been really fun not to have everything you need and to just ‘figure it out,’” says Jones.
Grooms and his peers are excited to work with hydroponics to create better tasting and more environmentally friendly crops. “It's been really cool to learn about hydroponics as a way to take better care of the earth," says Windsor. Hydroponic farming yields far more produce than traditional farming, and it uses less water too. This is especially important in Utah, where water is a scarce resource.
Committed to Community
With the greenhouse complete, everyone is looking forward to the first harvest. Arrington explains, "Projects like the Food and Care farm can provide a long-term partnership that helps students make a difference, give to the community, and strengthen relationships between BYU, alumni, and those we are challenged to go forth and serve.” Crane adds, "Any time you can collaborate is a win-win."
The hydroponic greenhouse will allow the Food and Care Coalition to continue to serve the unsheltered in Provo’s community. Whatever the time of year, those who walk through the doors of the Food and Care Coalition will enjoy fresh, nutritious produce as part of their meal. “BYU and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have a long history of agricultural improvement and humanitarian efforts, and I see this as an extension of that heritage in the modern era,” Arrington notes. He believes that “BYU will always have an important role to be an example and leader in any field that improves lives, lifts people, and enhances families.”
BYU will always have an important role to be an example and leader in any field that improves lives, lifts people, and enhances families.
The Cycle of Service
The greenhouse will also provide opportunities for many of the Coalition’s clients to engage in service themselves. Clients helped with the greenhouse construction and are eager to assist with the harvest. Crane believes that if clients stay primarily on the receiving end of service, they are robbed of the inherent benefits of playing the role of giver.
Grooms, Windsor, and Jones will ensure that the Coalition's staff are properly trained on how to run the greenhouse. The Controlled Environment Agriculture Club may also work with the Coalition on a semester basis to train clients on how to maintain the greenhouse and harvest crops. The greenhouse will become a training ground for service and education for both BYU students and clients of the Food and Care Coalition alike. “People come here needing help and they walk away with life skills,” Grooms says.
Windsor recalls one time a client at the Coalition came to work on the hydroponics system. He was a couple of decades older than the students and had worked on early forms of hydroponics when he was a college student. Talking with this man changed Windsor’s perspective. “Anyone in any circumstance could get in a situation where they need help,” he reflected. “It's humanizing,” he said. “Working on this project is expanding my perspective on who this greenhouse is going to benefit.”
The future is bright for the field of hydroponics and for BYU students involved in lifting and blessing others through further enhancements of the technology.
Arrington concludes that “the future is bright for the field of hydroponics and for BYU students involved in lifting and blessing others through further enhancements of the technology.”
