As time goes on, consumers’ knowledge of where their food comes from is becoming scarce. The Ohio State University Student Farm, however, is working hard to change that.
Located within The Ohio State University Waterman facility on West Campus, the farm provides a four-acre garden plot for food and flower growth, with about half of an acre in production at a time. The space contains six, 100-foot rows that serve the community for most of the year. Warm-weather crops, such as tomatoes, peppers, and flowers grow in the summer, and cold-weather crops, like lettuce, kale and leafy greens, are grown in the fall and early spring.
The farm is run primarily by student employees and volunteers, as well as two faculty advisors, Florence Sessoms, PhD, and Fernanda Krupek, PhD. The farm is integrated with undergraduate and graduate research at the university, and there is a practicum course available every fall, where students grow crops in cold frames to help extend the growing season. “The goal of the student farm is to connect students to the land,” Krupek said. “Hopefully, in the future, every Ohio State University student will know about the farm.”
The student farm uses a variety of programs to distribute products. “When we started, we didn’t have many connections,” Sessoms said. “Last year, students had a CSA program, but recently, we have two cooperatives that take the produce.”
The cooperatives give the farm guidelines for proper growing, harvesting, cleaning, and packaging according to their individual needs.
“It is a really great experience for students, because it is a huge process to make sure our food is safe to be eaten,” Sessoms said.
In addition to the cooperatives, the produce is sold at local farmers markets and restaurants in Columbus. Different companies have different standards for produce, and sometimes bruised or damaged food cannot be sold. The extra produce is donated to student farm volunteers and employees, who can take it home to eat. For example, with the excess tomatoes from the garden Sessoms said she makes a lot tomato sauce.
However, this project comes with its fair share of challenges.
“The student farm is an urban garden, right in the center of Columbus. One of the challenges that many urban gardens face is volume of production,” Krupek said.
When there is not a large quantity of produce, it can be difficult to find places that want it. To combat this, Sessoms and Krupek found a cooperative to help aggregate, or collect and disperse, the food from small scale, diverse farms like The Ohio State University Student Farm to reach the volume of food needed to reach institutional buyers like restaurants.
Additionally, environmental factors, like extreme heat and drought, can impact the quality of production. Irrigation is essential to the operation.
“Thankfully, because of drip irrigation, we were not affected heavily by the drought,” Krupek said.
The irrigation system has several hoses strung along the rows of the garden beds, and they have tiny holes that let water out. It runs consistently throughout the week, and is turned off for the weekend, which prevents an overabundance of water being used and cuts down on water waste.
Several integrated pest and weed management practices are used as well to keep the garden running efficiently. Black plastic and landscape fabric are used to prevent weed growth, and crop rotation is utilized to minimize pests and disease. Additionally, fertilizer is injected into the soil in the spring. Cover crops, like grasses, are utilized in the winter to restore nutrients to the soil.
“We want to provide students the ability to discover different methodology,” Krupek said.
The farm has had a lasting impact on several student volunteers and employees. While their average attendance of farm workdays is between five and ten students, many alumni have returned to help. Additionally, the farm has provided professional connections for volunteers, and a few have even gained employment with the cooperatives the garden utilizes.
“It is a lot of learning and innovation year after year, and there are a multitude of things we will try next year, based off of our observations this year,” Sessoms said.
In the future, the farm is looking to expand its work with corporations and see what other crops can be provided. Overall, the garden is working to expand students’ knowledge of where food comes from and how it can be sustainably produced.
text
text