United States School Garden Army

The United States School Garden Army (USSGA), was founded by the Bureau of Education^[1][2] in 1917 during the administration of President Woodrow Wilson's.^[3] Wilson described gardening as "just as real and patriotic an effort as the building of ships or the firing of cannon"^[4] and opined that "food will win the war".^[5] The USSGA was set up to encourage gardening among school children, in the hopes of preventing a potential food scarcity after World War I.^[6] Funding for the entity comes from the War Department.^[5]

School Garden Army recruitment poster by Edward Penfield (1918)

The Bureau of Education distributed manuals and guides (featuring data on soil health)^[7] across the nation to children ages 9–15^[8] and their teachers. By Armistice Day, a large number of American children had answered the call to become "Soldiers of the Soil".^[9] War Gardens are now known as Victory Gardens.^[10]