Mt. Diablo High School Opens Hydroponic Greenhouse and Farm-to-Cafeteria Lab in Downtown Concord

Students, educators, and trustees with the Mt. Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD) celebrated the Saturday morning ribbon-cutting for a 1,800-square-foot controlled-environment hydroponic greenhouse and outdoor teaching kitchen at Mt. Diablo High School at 2450 Grant Street in downtown Concord. Built as an expansion of the school's nationally recognized Sustainable Hospitality and Culinary Arts Career Technical Education (CTE) Academy, the polycarbonate-and-steel greenhouse houses twelve vertical nutrient-film-technique (NFT) channels and four deep-water-culture raft beds. Because mineral-enriched water recirculates in a closed loop driven by rooftop solar pumps, the facility grows butterhead lettuce, Genovese basil, bok choy, cherry tomatoes, and strawberries year-round using 90 percent less water than conventional field farming.

Over each academic semester, more than 180 tenth- through twelfth-grade students in biology, environmental chemistry, and culinary arts classes rotate through the greenhouse to monitor pH balance, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and beneficial insect biocontrols. Fresh produce harvested on Monday and Wednesday mornings—projected at 400 pounds per month—travels fifty yards across the quad to the student-run Serendipity Restaurant & Bakery and the MDUSD central nutrition kitchen for school salad bars.

Through a dual-enrollment articulation agreement with Diablo Valley College, seniors completing the two-year Sustainable Hospitality and Urban Agriculture pathway earn six transferable college credits alongside their California ServSafe Manager certification. Local restaurant chefs and urban farmers from Todos Santos Plaza serve as industry mentors during Friday culinary lab practicums.

The $460,000 greenhouse and teaching patio were funded through a California Department of Education Career Technical Education Incentive Grant paired with a $75,000 Farm-to-School grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Families and community members can check Thursday lunch reservation hours at the student-operated Serendipity Restaurant on the Mt. Diablo Unified School District CTE Portal.