Katie Fugnetti, field manager, organic garden

Organic Vegetable Project

From the Farm to Campus Kitchens

The campus commitment to sustainability is growing to include the food that faculty, staff, and students put in their mouths. The Organic Vegetable Project brings organic vegetables from the University Farm to the main campus. While most of the vegetables are currently sold locally and to faculty, staff, and students at a stand on campus, the hope, said Lee Altier, Agriculture, is to make the produce an integral part of the food served on campus. Eventually, he envisions informational signs and labels indicating University Farm-fresh produce served across campus. At the salad bar, for example, students and faculty could support the farm by selecting vegetables grown on campus.

“As student interest grows, it may be more possible for the food services to integrate these vegetables into the purchasing plans,” said Altier.

The project began with student desire for local organic vegetables, communicated to Altier through Jillian Buckholz, former Chico State sustainability coordinator. With financial support from the Foor Foundation and the CSU, Chico Institute for Sustainable Development, the first vegetables went into the ground in March 2008. The project encompasses 10 acres of certified organic land, one currently under cultivation with vegetables, the other nine with organic dairy forage.

“It is challenging to get enough revenue from one acre to cover the labor and other costs,” said Altier. “But we will become self-sustaining as we grow.”

“Eventually, after hiring a marketing manager, we plan to make pre-order boxes of veggies available each week to regular customers,” added field manager Katie Fugnetti, a Nutrition and Food Science graduate. “But we need to generate a customer base first.”

Altier emphasized that the Organic Vegetable Project is not designed to compete with farmers, but rather to serve as a support for the local farming community. With help from local farmer and consultant Bruce Balgooyen (you may have seen him selling heirloom tomatoes and salad mix at the Chico farmer’s market Saturday mornings), the project will be a way to share ideas and information. Field days for local growers with tours and taste tests are in the works.

The project also offers agriculture majors and other students insight into land and ecosystem management, further rounding out the curriculum. Students in Plant and Soil Science 309, Directed Work in Field and Row Crops, use the fields as a laboratory, as do students in Elizabeth Boyd’s Production of Annual Crops class and entimology students. “It is an outdoor classroom,” said Fugnetti. “Students help with every aspect of organic farming from seeding to weeding to supporting tomatoes and harvesting. This is very exciting as most of them have never farmed or gardened before.”

Mark Stemen, Geography and Planning, requires students in his Environmental Issues class to volunteer at either the Chico State Organic Farm Project or Growing Resourcefully, Uniting Bellies (GRUB), a Community Supported agriculture program (CSA) started by former students Max Kee and Francine Stuelpnagel.

“Students read Daniel Quinn’s book Ishmael as part of the course,” said Stemen. “Working on a farm for a few hours is a good counterbalance that allows the students to ‘live the questions’ raised in class.”

“I have been emphasizing that this project is really multi-faceted,” said Altier. “It provides produce for the campus. It provides educational and research opportunities. And it is a community asset, as we support the small farmers in the area with information.”

The campus and Chico communities are encouraged to get their hands dirty in the vegetable garden as volunteers—transplanting, weeding, and otherwise helping to keep the plants healthy and productive. Volunteers do get to take home produce in exchange for their efforts, said Altier. Contact Altier, laltier@csuchico.edu, or Fugnetti, kfugnetti@gmail.com.

—Anna Harris, Public Affairs and Publication

Stock up on delicious and healthy vegetables from the Organic Vegetable Project every Wednesday (while supplies last) from 10 am to 2 pm in front of the Student Services Center. Current selections include a salad mix with five varieties of lettuce, calendula, and tatsoi; carrots, tomatoes, large and small pumpkins, butternut squash, and marconi peppers. Locations and times may vary; contact Fugnetti for more information, kfugnetti@gmail.com.

Civic Agriculture

The Organic Vegetable Project is one of several campus and community projects supporting a localized, or community, food system, said La Dona Knigge, Geography and Planning. She points to the success of the GRUB community-supported agriculture project and a weekly Veggie Swap for local gardeners in Chico. Knigge, with the help of faculty, Facilities Management staff, and students, transformed a grassy area next to the Konkow Honors Student Housing into a community garden this summer.

Knigge said this movement toward civic agriculture benefits farmers and ecosystems while building more cohesive communities. She is applying for a summer scholar’s grant to research this “emerging campus-community network of alternative, local food production.” Her research will inform the development of a food policy within the sustainability element of the update of the City of Chico’s General Plan in 2009.