The Hinterland Homestead Outdoor Agricultural School Add your support
Concept art, watercolor: a stone amphitheater where children sit around a teacher, next to an orchard and a timber-frame farm learning center at sunset. Concept art

Bring agriculture back to Provo students

The Hinterland Institute is proposing an 11-acre working farm and outdoor classroom for Provo City School District students on district land in Broadview Shores, with construction funded by grants and private donations rather than district money.

We're asking the PCSD Board of Education to [NEEDED: the decision, e.g. approve this partnership] at its [NEEDED: meeting date] meeting. Add your name and we'll take it to them.

Add your support See the plan

Letter needed here.

What works best is about 120 to 180 words in your own voice. It should say:

  • who you are and your tie to Provo (kids in PCSD, how long you've lived here)
  • what The Hinterland Institute is and what it already does
  • why you started this, ideally with one specific moment or memory

Then sign it with each person's name and role. Don't polish it too much. This section reads more like a neighbor talking than anything else on the page, and that's what earns the trust.

What Provo lost in 2017

In the spring of 2017, 166 Provo High students were taking agriculture classes when the district decided not to carry the program to the new campus. A greenhouse had been in the building plans, but it was cut as not "cost-effective or space-effective." KSL TV, March 2017

The Homestead would bring those classes home without building anything on a high school campus, giving agriculture and FFA students a farm to use as a daily working lab. Younger students would come too, with PCSD teachers leading their own lessons on site and using the gardens, greenhouses and orchard as the classroom. A fourth grader who has watched a seed break through the soil in a greenhouse bed remembers photosynthesis in a way a diagram can't match.

Concept art, watercolor: a timber classroom building with a planted roof, a covered outdoor classroom, and a grass amphitheater full of students. Concept art

What's planned for the 11 acres

At the center would be a classroom building and outdoor amphitheater, surrounded by gardens, greenhouses, an orchard and beehives. A small barn and paddock for animal care lessons is part of the plan too, though keeping animals on this site needs city approval first.

On evenings and weekends, the plan includes classes for neighbors, like beekeeping and canning, and a farm stand if the city approves it.

Concept art, watercolor: raised vegetable beds, glass greenhouses, a pond, beehives and fruit trees along gravel paths. Concept art
Concept art, watercolor: a small barn with a fenced riding path, a student leading a horse, and sheep grazing in a paddock. Concept art
Concept art: a bird's-eye view of the 11-acre site between two streets, with greenhouses, gardens, an orchard, a barn, a classroom building and amphitheater, ringed by trees along the neighboring homes. Concept art
Draft layout. The final design depends on district and city review. [NEEDED: real street names and which side faces existing homes, to label on the image]

What it would cost the district

The plan calls for funding construction with grants and private donations, so the district would not spend capital funds on the farm. The Hinterland Institute would run it day to day, while the district decides how often to send classes and arranges the buses for those trips.

We want The Hinterland Homestead

Be one of the first to add your name.

Weigh in

Add your support, or tell us about a concern. Either way, we read every one.

What would you like to do?

Living next to a farm

If you live in Broadview Shores, here's where the plan stands on the questions we hear most, including the parts that aren't settled yet.

Will it smell?

The plan calls for trained staff to clean animal areas every day. Where manure is stored, and how often it's hauled away, is still being designed, and it has to meet the city's setback rules before any animals come to the site.

Will it be loud?

Visits happen during the school day, and we're committing to no late-night events and no amplified sound after dark.

What about traffic and parking?

Most visiting students would arrive by school bus during school hours. A parking and drop-off plan will go through the city's review before anything is built, and we'll post it here when it's ready.

Is any of this approved?

Not yet. The school district hasn't made a decision, and parts of the plan, including animals and a farm stand, would need city zoning approval. We'll update this page as each step happens.

Have a concern we haven't answered? Tell us about it.