|By Big Radio News Staff |

Students studying agriculture and horticulture at Janesville Craig and Parker high schools are getting a big upgrade in greenhouse facilities this fall.

The district has broken ground on a pair of brand-new greenhouses at Craig and Parker.

School officials say the $3.2 million pair of new greenhouses will be much more spacious than Parker and Craig’s current greenhouses on campus — big enough for full classes to be held inside them. That will be a first for both schools.

District officials say the new greenhouses will come equipped with cutting edge controls and technology that will give students hands-on work with the same plant growing technologies used in the newest commercial and industrial greenhouses.

Parker junior and FFA chapter president Emma Purdy says she’s excited she and other students can now gain experience in the latest technologies in drip irrigation and hydroponic growing.

She says the some of the work students now can in the new greenhouses would mirror what they’d see in jobs at professional greenhouse facilities.

District officials COVID-relief funding covers about $2.1 million of the greenhouses’ $3.2 million cost. Both facilities will be completed and running in August, in time for the 2024 – 2025 school year.