It is the mission of the Drew Horticulture Program for all students to have access to materials and programs to learn, develop and participate in obtaining the skills of Horticulture through planting, management, consumption and sales of vegetables and flowers. Through interactive methods carefully designed around students’ specific disabilities and to allow for maximum involvement and skill development, the Gardens at Drew has become the model for the nation in the methodology and programs developed to educate center-based special education students in the areas of Horticulture Science. As is the mission of our school, the objectives of the Gardens at Drew center around the development of a comprehensive program to allow each student to gain functional independence and/or job readiness skills in the production, consumption and sale of food and food-related products.
Detroit Public Schools Community District’s Drew Horticulture Program is a two-acre farm that produces food for school cafeterias and offers programming for school field trips and other community events. Drew Farm, a production-focused farm operating on the grounds of the Charles R. Drew Transition Center, has grown from one hoophouse to the current seven plus 1.5 acres of outdoor growing space. It is one of the largest Farm-to-School programs in the country. For more than a decade, the students at Drew have been working with in-ground, hydroponic, and aquaponic growing techniques, with the indoor hydroponic operation producing between 2000-3000 heads of leafy greens per month year-round.
In the daily experience that is the Charles Drew Transition Center, students transition much like a normal high school, with seven hours in the day with each hour dedicated to different work skills programs or functional skill acquisition. All Drew students come with differing disabilities from cognitive deficits, hearing deficits or physical limitations. Knowing this, differentiated instruction happens daily in every class period, with vocational horticulture skills being adapted to students’ ability to accomplish them. For example, I have a class where the level of functionality is extremely low, but they are really good at rote production tasks. They will have the responsibility to place plugs into cell packs, pull weeds, or spread compost or mulch. Other classes can place plants into hydroponic systems, harvest hydroponic plants for processing or pick peppers or tomatoes from the plants. Still more, like my class of Hearing-Impaired students, can do these tasks and more independently. It’s very rewarding for me to be able to watch and only assist as they work together to harvest an entire table, cut the produce, place it tenderly into produce bags then boxes, and transfer to the refrigerator to await transport to the restaurant. Most rewarding, especially since we are a year-round indoor/outdoor program, students pick up on the fact that depending on the season, there is always a task to do, with the reward being the harvesting of food products for our clients.
I think the real change in students’ viewpoints happened the year we transitioned from being primarily a soil-based operation growing food for the school lunch program to introducing hydroponics as our primary form of growing for fine dining Detroit establishments. Yes, we still employ soil-based growing in the production of Roma Tomatoes, Serrano Peppers and Cilantro for the Detroit Salsa Company, utilizing the skills of rototilling ( a student favorite, especially for the girls who prove they can operate machinery), weeding, composting and season extension practices for developing skills, but the introduction of hydroponic growing was the game-changer. To be able to produce leafy green produce good enough for the finest restaurants is a terrific motivator, and one that I constantly stress by insisting on gloving up to handle seeds, plugs and plants, being meticulous in how we do things to “make our Chef happy.” The fact that our chef has an open invitation to visit Drew—and often comes to speak with our students about how he uses their greens in his cooking—is incredibly motivating. Winning national awards for our programming has also reinforced that our program is recognized for growing food the right way. So, whether we are growing food for our restaurants or donating to local food pantries, students understand that they are a part of the community through their work in helping to feed their neighbors.
As a leading Farm-to-School/Table program, I am lucky to be a large part of both the urban agriculture and horticultural education scene in Detroit and other areas of the country through speaking engagements. When talking with educators and others in the field, I always give the advice that the use of controlled environment agriculture is perhaps the best thing I have done, for it allows students – regardless of disabilities – the opportunity to do work in the production of food products. Our wheelchair students can do the work of their able-bodied peers because controlled environment agriculture is the difference-maker. I can shut the machine down when harvesting, remove the channels of produce, and place it at a level where they can reach to experience the delight of an outstanding harvest. This same technique can be applied to the placement of plants into the system. So, when a student who happens to be in a wheelchair due to their disability has the same opportunity as others to demonstrate work skills, the playing field becomes leveled.
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The Nourse Farms Approach: Clean Plants from the Ground Up
Indoor Ag-Con 2026 wrapped up last week at The Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino with a clear signal from the room: this industry is shifting toward fundamentals. The show drew attendees from all 50 U.S. states plus Washington, D.C., U.S. territories, and 30 countries, with 263 booths on the floor. The coverage and conversations captured the same tone: practical discussions, execution-first thinking, and a renewed seriousness about building durable businesses.
Across the conference, the same patterns surfaced repeatedly in conversations with operators, suppliers, investors, and researchers. Here are the themes that felt most consistent in Las Vegas, across tracks and crop types.
1) “CEA” is a spectrum, not a single model
One of the most useful anchors came from Kaylee South : CEA is crop production “under cover” with some level of control, and it spans everything from hoop houses to greenhouses to vertical farms. The implication is obvious but often missed: there is no universal blueprint. The “right fit” depends on mission, market, labor availability, and whether the model is economically viable at the scale you are choosing.
If your model requires perfect conditions to survive, it is fragile. The operators making the best decisions right now are choosing systems that match their market and their ability to execute, then scaling only after repeatability is proven.
2) Profitability thinking is replacing “maximum output” thinking
Across the event coverage and the sessions themselves, the shift was consistent: success is being measured by repeatable margins and operational control more than peak yield claims.
That same posture showed up inside technical sessions, too. Dominick DiMucci framed it bluntly in his leafy greens talk: define business goals before construction, make decisions with the crop and the bottom line in mind, and treat execution as the core job.
This is where the industry is maturing. The room is less interested in who can build the most complex facility, and more interested in who can run one cleanly, sell through production, and stay solvent.
3) Scaling production is hard, but scaling sales is harder
This was one of the most repeated realities on stage.
DiMucci put it in operational terms: plants keep growing, sales takes time, and you need an offload plan at launch that matches real commercial ramp speed.
Travis Higginbotham echoed the same split from a cannabis lens: you can run an efficient crop, but sales, inventory, go-to-market strategy, and cash flow management decide whether the business survives.
The broader finance conversations at the show reinforced that the next wave of winners will be built around commercial fundamentals: realistic projections, credible unit economics, and leadership teams that understand both production and selling.
4) Facility design and team design are inseparable
As costs rise and tolerance for operational chaos drops, teams are treating design decisions as business decisions.
In leafy greens, the examples were concrete: light, cooling capacity, CO2 strategy, and water quality show up as performance ceilings or performance multipliers.
Just as important was the human side: staffing the right functions from day one, involving growers in design-phase decisions, treating maintenance as a core competency, and building feedback loops that actually work.
These are not “nice to have” points anymore. They are the difference between a facility that hits steady output and one that slowly bleeds cash through preventable friction.
5) Greenhouse diversification can be a viable path when the operation and market support it
Not every winning story starts with a brand-new build.
Diversification is not a universal answer, but in the right context it can be a highly practical approach. It works best when an operation has existing assets it can repurpose, clear market pull, and the ability to phase upgrades based on constraints and learning.
Rhonda Cornett and Brent Cornett laid out a practical, operator-first approach: evaluate market, assess facilities, determine what you can grow for an existing market, then upgrade step-by-step while maximizing months of use. They also showed how diversification can be a survival strategy: plugs, tomatoes, lettuce, baskets, and expansion plans built from a base of existing infrastructure.
For a lot of growers, this is one of the most actionable plays in the room: reduce risk by leveraging what is already real, then earn the right to scale.
6) Mushrooms are getting pulled even more into the CEA conversation
A standout strategic signal was how seriously mushrooms were positioned as a protected ag opportunity.
John James Staniszewski made the case that mushrooms have different economics because they do not rely on sunlight, they can run high vertical density in a small footprint, and they support modular scaling aligned with demand. He also framed mushrooms as a premium category where freshness, consistency, and local or regional delivery can matter commercially.
The details will vary by operation and region, but the core insight stands: CEA’s crop map is expanding toward categories where controlled production matches product value and supply chain reality.
What this means if you are building in CEA right now
A few grounded conclusions from the week:
- Pick a model you can run repeatedly. Complexity is expensive, and it compounds when labor is tight and systems fail.
- Treat sales and forecasting as production tools. They dictate staffing, energy use, and whether you can operate without cash crunch surprises.
- Design around your constraints. Market access, labor availability, energy cost, and leadership capability are part of your facility design, whether you admit it or not.
Indoor Ag-Con exists to put these realities on stage, in the open, with operators who have lived them. That tone was present across the program, and it is where the industry is headed.
We are already deep into planning for Indoor Ag-Con 2027, and there is a lot in motion. The community is asking for tighter formats, more operator-to-operator learning, and even more practical takeaways. We heard that clearly this year, and we are excited about what we have in store for the year ahead.