1. Building Sustainable Food Systems Programming and Community Partnerships: A Case Study of the UNC Student Farm
Kevin Cody, PhD Environmental and Sustainability Studies, University of Northern Colorado
Project overview
UNC student wiseacres
Challenges & Opportunities
Institutions of higher education with programs focused on sustainability are increasingly integrating curriculum and experiential learning opportunities related to agriculture and food systems. Using the newly established UNC student farm as a case study, this research explores ways student farms can contribute to meaningful collaborations between sustainable food system programs and community partners. In particular, it answers the questions: What are some of the primary challenges and opportunities student farms face in building community-university partnerships? What role does an agrarian context dominated by industrial agriculture and livestock production play in constructing these challenges and opportunities?
The UNC student farm was established in spring, 2015, on leased property approximately five miles from the university. Dozens of students across eight different courses have helped develop the farm program which includes:
a ¼ acre garden, 5,000 sq. ft. greenhouse, and 1 acre of row crops. Space in production, all organic, has varied from season to season.
distribution outlets such as pop-up farm stands on and off campus, the Greeley farmer’s market, and food banks in Greeley and at the university.
a 6-12 week summer class on organic farming and gardening, fall courses on harvesting, distributing, and processing produce, and spring courses on garden preparation, design, and plant selection.
financial support for the farm made available by a student-led sustainability fund, and by the college which houses the Environmental and Sustainability Studies program.
Four key challenges and opportunities associated with building relationships and engaging with the community:
1. Tensions between production and education, at times a zero-sum relationship, extend into the community engagement sphere:
Production demands can limit time dedicated to community engagement, especially when service is an undervalued component of academic work.
2. The student farm plays a valuable role connecting entities in and across the community food system:
Promoting productive relationships between and among, for example, a local farmer, undergraduate students, and the school district.
3. The agrarian context in and around Greeley presents more opportunities than challenges to the student farm:
Experiential learning on the farm encourages critical reflection on food systems and farm work, in addition to vulnerabilities and risks associated with farming.
4. The most significant impacts of the student farm are limited to participating students:
In three years, direct impact on the broader community may be negligible. Personal transformation of students, evident in reflection-based assignments, is noteworthy and has translated into post-graduate work in food systems.
Community context
Greeley, CO, located in Weld County, is traditionally viewed as a bastion of industrial agriculture:
Landscape dominated by industrially grown commodity crops such as corn, alfalfa, and sugar beets. Beef cattle (e.g. JBS) and dairy processing industries (e.g. Leprino Foods) are major employers in the community.
Weld Co. ranks among top 10 U.S. counties in value of agricultural products sold.
However, there are also notable efforts to promote local food movements, organic agriculture, and healthy eating/lifestyles:
The Greeley/Evans school district is a nationally recognized leader in the farm-to- school movement, with 75% of school meals made from scratch, and many ingredients sourced from local growers.
The Greeley Farmer’s Market, in operation for 25 years, continues to grow and participates in a program offering double-up food bucks to SNAP participants.
Health and wellness programs in public and non-profit sectors address troubling statistics regarding rates of obesity and diabetes that exceed state averages.
Students planting crops for a late fall harvest, 2016
Hands-on learning in first course in the greenhouse, Urban Ag, 2015
First season before and after, spring and fall, 2015
Students harvest pumpkins for distribution at Community Fest, an event sponsored by the university.
The first farm stand at the Greeley Farmer’s Market, 2015
Community connections
conclusions
The student farm has been instrumental in forging connections with various community partners.  For example:
Common Good Compost is a company run by an UNC graduate that converts residential food waste into commercial compost. The student farm served as a site for windrows to compost 250,000 lbs. of food waste from UNC dining halls.
Hoffman Farms LLC was able to expand their operation into a 10-acre field originally made available to the student farm. They now provide with student an opportunity to experience field-scale production techniques.
Local Food, Local Places, an EPA technical assistance grant awarded to the university and community partners to promote the development of local food systems, a significant component of which included expanding community access to fresh produce potentially grown on the student farm.
Summary of key finding and recommendations for sustainable food system education (SFSE) program in similar stages of development:
The UNC student farm represents a physical site of connection with the community that has helped build relationships among local agri-food system actors and has improved students’ agricultural literacy.
The questionable sustainability of the student farm limits opportunities to establish meaningful and enduring collaborations with community-based organizations.
Student farms can help bridge theoretical and practical divides between industrial and sustainable agriculture by exposing students to economic, social, and environmental realities of farming.
In the early stages of development, programs focused on SFSE that include student farms may want to focus community engagement efforts on building the capacity of already existing organizations/institutions aligned with program goals.
Sustainable Food system Ed.
As sustainable food system education (SFSE) becomes more commonplace among institutions of higher education, scholars attempt to identify best practices and pedagogies. These include: interdisciplinary systems thinking, experiential learning opportunities, and community engagement or collective action (Culhane et al., 2016; Jordan et al., 2014; Hilimire et al., 2014; Valley et al., 2017). Student farms present opportunities to incorporate each of these criteria and are therefore common features of SFSE (LaCharite, 2015;. Parr et al., 2017; Sayre, 2011). Mutually beneficial community engagement strategies of student farms may include: establishing a CSA, hosting volunteers or public tours, or collaborating with non-profits to improve community food security (Ratasky et al., 2015). Challenges to maintaining community relationships and student farms themselves include: lack of human and financial resources, tensions between production and education, and lack of administrative support (Ratasky et al., 2015; Reeve et al., 2014).