Apple Seeds

What Apple Seeds does

Apple Seeds is a Fayetteville, Arkansas-based nonprofit founded in 2007 that operates physical teaching farms to deliver hands-on food education to children in Northwest Arkansas and Central Arkansas. Its core offering is a portfolio of in-person programs — Field Trips, In-School Programs (Cooking in the Schools), The Kids' Table Summer Camp, Youth Cooking Classes (Farm to Table), Growing My Plate, Garden Workshops, Virtual Programs, Teen Service Learning, and University Internships — delivered through teaching farm facilities. The organization also runs a Food Donation Program that distributes more than 10,000 pounds of fresh produce annually to food-insecure families and complements educational revenue with venue rental and signature fundraising events such as Chefs & Fire.

The organization serves three primary segments: K-12 students (its primary persona), food-insecure families in Arkansas communities, and schools/educational institutions with high free/reduced-lunch eligibility — reaching over 20,000 students annually. Its go-to-market is community-led, relying on direct engagement, field-trip logistics, in-school delivery, and volunteer pipelines rather than paid acquisition channels.

Its business model is donation-driven: Apple Seeds Inc. is funded by individual and corporate contributions (including a $20,000 grant from The Campbell's Foundation in April 2025 and Walmart Spark Good matching), supplemented by venue rental income and ticketed events. In February 2026, Apple Seeds announced a strategic growth plan to open two additional teaching farms in Northwest and Central Arkansas in response to school waitlists and acute regional demand (70% free/reduced-lunch eligibility in Central Arkansas), signaling a multi-site scale-up of its teaching farm model.

Name

Apple Seeds

Legal name

Apple Seeds Inc.

Website

https://appleseedsnwa.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Apple Seeds is a Fayetteville, Arkansas nonprofit founded in 2007 that operates teaching farms delivering hands-on food education to over 20,000 K-12 students annually in Northwest and Central Arkansas, funded primarily by donations and grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Fayetteville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and charitable contributions: As a nonprofit organization, Apple Seeds relies on donations from supporters and community members to fund operations and expansion
2. Venue rental: The organization offers venue rental services for events, generating revenue from community use of their facilities

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Apple Seeds is a nonprofit organization that operates teaching farms in Northwest Arkansas and Central Arkansas to deliver hands-on food and culinary education to children. Its portfolio of programs includes farm field trips, in-school cooking programs, summer camps, youth cooking classes, garden workshops, virtual programs, and a food donation program that distributes fresh produce to food-insecure families. Programs are funded through donations, grants, and ancillary revenue such as venue rentals and community events.

Product overview

Apple Seeds is a nonprofit educational organization operating a unified program portfolio of food education services centered around its teaching farms. The organization offers a comprehensive suite of programs including Field Trips, In School Programs, Summer Camp, Youth Cooking Classes, Garden Workshops, Virtual Programs, and Teen Service Learning initiatives—all designed to ignite a lifelong love for fresh food in children. Core programs are delivered through physical teaching farms in Northwest Arkansas and Central Arkansas, with food donation and venue rental services complementing the educational mission. The organization served over 20,000 students annually and shares more than 10,000 pounds of fresh produce with food-insecure families each year.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Field Trips Interactive farm field trips at Apple Seeds' Northwest Arkansas and Central Arkansas teaching farms where students explore fresh produce and learn about healthy eating through hands-on experiences.
• In School Programs (Cooking in the Schools) Classroom-based cooking education program that brings hands-on culinary experiences directly to schools, teaching students food preparation and nutrition.
• The Kids' Table Summer Camp Seasonal summer camp program where children explore the farm, harvest fresh produce, and learn cooking skills over multiple weeks.
• Youth Cooking Classes - Farm To Table Cooking classes for youth that teach valuable culinary skills using freshly harvested farm ingredients from the teaching farms.
• Growing My Plate Educational program that teaches children about nutrition and balanced eating through interactive activities.
• Garden Workshops Workshops that teach gardening skills and knowledge to children and families.
• Virtual Programs Remote educational programming that allows students to engage with farm education and cooking content online.
• Central Arkansas Programming Educational food programs specifically serving children in the Central Arkansas region.
• Teaching Farms Hands-on farm facilities in Northwest Arkansas and Central Arkansas that provide food education experiences, with expansion planned to add two additional teaching farms.
• Food Donation Program Program that shares fresh produce from Apple Seeds' teaching farms with food-insecure families, distributing more than 10,000 pounds of fresh produce annually.
• Venue Rental Rental of Apple Seeds' farm facilities for community events and gatherings, generating auxiliary revenue to support the educational mission.
• Events (Chefs & Fire) Organized community fundraising events including the annual Chefs & Fire fundraiser featuring local chefs cooking with farm produce.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 20,000 students educated annually
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Edible Schoolyard Project: Founded by Alice Waters, the Edible Schoolyard Project runs school garden and kitchen classrooms that teach children about fresh food. It is the most direct national analog to Apple Seeds' teaching-farm model, sharing the farm-based food-education mission for K–12 students.
• FoodCorps: FoodCorps places service members in schools to deliver hands-on food education, garden programs, and healthy school meals. It directly competes for the same K–12 food-education niche and donor funding as Apple Seeds.
• Big Green: Big Green builds Learning Gardens in schools across the U.S. and connects students to food through garden-based education. Its school-garden food-education mission and K–12 target audience are directly comparable to Apple Seeds.
• Real Food Farm: Real Food Farm operates urban farms in Baltimore that combine food production with youth education and food access. Its dual mission of farm-based youth education and produce donation closely mirrors Apple Seeds.
• The Food Trust: The Food Trust is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit working on nutrition education, food access, and healthy school-food initiatives. It overlaps with Apple Seeds on nutrition education and food-insecurity programming for children.
• Green City Growers: Green City Growers builds and maintains edible gardens for schools, businesses, and residences, with a strong focus on youth education programming. It is a comparable farm-based education organization serving a similar audience.

Regional players

• Green Mountain Farm-to-School: Green Mountain Farm-to-School delivers farm-to-school programming and food education in Vermont. It mirrors Apple Seeds' regional, community-based food-education model but operates in a different geography.

Emerging players

• Captain Planet Foundation: Captain Planet Foundation funds and supports hands-on environmental and food-education projects for youth, including school gardens. It overlaps thematically with Apple Seeds' garden-workshop programming but operates as a funder rather than direct service provider.

Others

• The Farmlink Project: The Farmlink Project connects surplus farm produce to food-insecure communities. It overlaps with Apple Seeds' produce-donation program (10,000+ lbs annually) on the food-access side, though it does not run education programming.
• Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation: The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation funds nutrition education and healthy-eating programs for children, overlapping thematically with Apple Seeds' mission and positioning as a potential funder/peers in the same philanthropic ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/appleseedsinc
• Facebookfacebook.com/appleseedsinc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/apple-seeds-inc.
• Instagraminstagram.com/appleseedsinc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Apple Seeds