GemüseAckerdemie (Acker e.V. School Garden Program)
Berlin (nationwide), Germany · Operator: Acker e.V. (founded by Christoph Schmitz; renamed from Ackerdemia e.V. in 2021)
Overview
A German education program built on the idea that the field is the best classroom, fostering children's understanding of food and nature through school gardens. Its hands-on curriculum, cultivating a corner of the schoolyard or school grounds, builds appreciation of food, healthy eating and awareness of food waste. It has grown into the largest school-garden network in the German-speaking world.
Citizen participation
An education program founded in 2014 by agronomist Christoph Schmitz. Schools create a vegetable field on their own grounds where children, together with their teachers, sow, tend and harvest vegetables year-round. It runs as roughly two hours of class per week, with the association providing materials, teacher training and planting plans. It has spread to hundreds of schools across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Operating model
A social venture run by the non-profit Acker e.V. Participating schools pay about one third of the cost, with the remainder financed by health insurance funds, ministries and charitable foundations; teaching materials and corporate partnership programs also support operations.
Impact
Hundreds of schools and tens of thousands of children take part, with reported improvements in children's interest in vegetables and eating habits. It is cited in research and policy documents as a leading example of food education and ESD through school gardens.
Crops
- vegetables
- potatoes
- leafy-greens
- herbs
Scale
Year-round school garden program run at hundreds of schools and kindergartens across Germany, Austria and Switzerland; each participating school cultivates its own vegetable field on school grounds
Sources（3）
This entry is compiled from the public sources, official sites and research below.
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