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income fund reimbursable account that the organic farm and you won’t find that on many other college campuses. We now
the Horticulture department are operating under.” proudly have a CSA on campus.” —OCH
Besides the educational aspects for the students working
on the farms, the partnership also has
other educational benefits.
“We do a lot to educate students
about where their food is coming from,”
said Johnson. “Many times we do special
events in the dining hall that highlight
whatever is in our kitchen from our
farms. We made a video and that runs
occasionally. We also have menu holders
that we put out to let the students know
what is fresh. One year we had a table of
about 15 different types of squash and
we educated the students about them.”
The School of Agriculture and
Natural Resources has also developed
a course associated with the farm. “It
is a fruit and vegetable production class
and it is open to all of the majors on
the campus,” said Hennigan. “It attracts
students from many diverse majors, like
the dietary program, business programs
and hospitality programs on campus. It
allows these students who have varied
interests in the same subject, to be in
the classroom together and explore all
of the different aspects of this whole
production system. It is really integrat-
ing our whole campus.”
In addition to offering the produce in
the dining halls and campus restaurant,
students can also purchase it in the Pit
Stop, the campus convenience store. “It
is for students who may live in one of
our residence halls that is apartment-
style, and have the ability to cook for
themselves,” said Nyberg. “They can
still buy fresh produce on campus.”
The school also just launched its own
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
program. The program allows the local
community to buy directly from the
farm, essentially purchasing a share of
the farm’s harvest. This helps to keep
prices lower and guarantees to the farm
that its produce will be purchased. “We
started a community share program with
our organic farm and we sold it out,”
said Johnson. “We are pretty proud of
it. It is something very innovative, and
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