Mud pants instead of a math book
If you want to know what real nutrition education looks like, you have to go where the smell of fresh earth is. In around 635 schoolyards in the south and west of Germany, it’s not just romping around during breaks these weeks – there’s working out here. This year alone, around 30,000 children swapped pens for rakes. Your goal: your own vegetable harvest.
What sounds playful has a serious and now measurably successful background. ALDI SÜD and the non-profit social enterprise have been cooperating for ten years now Acker eV
Together they run the “VegetableAckerdemie” – an educational program that aims to stop alienation from our food.
More than 392 tons of potatoes and an important insight
The results after a decade of collaboration are impressive. Since 2016, around 130,000 students have learned what it means to take responsibility for nature on a total area of over 50,000 square meters – the equivalent of around seven football fields.
The fact that the concept “From seeds to salad” works is no longer just a guess, but has been scientifically proven:
- Vegetable love: According to impact analyses, almost 60 percent of the participating children develop field noticeably more appreciation and interest in fresh vegetables.
- Enthusiasm: Two thirds of the kids are simply enthusiastic about growing their own crops.
- Learning effect: 75 percent of the teachers also say that the program has taught them completely new methods of making nature tangible.
Incidentally, over the course of the partnership, well over 392 tons of potatoes were collected in the ALDI SÜD area.
Ten years of vegetable farming show what is possible when education and practice come together. When children experience for themselves how food grows from seed to harvest, it changes their view of what ends up on their plate. This is a formative experience and we are proud to be able to help shape this program as a main partner,
explains Carlos Rasel (Director Public Affairs and Corporate Citizenship at ALDI SÜD). The discounter has massively increased its commitment over the years and has been the main partner of the program since 2024.
