It’s hard to believe that the 2017-2018 academic year is almost over! Let’s take a moment to look back on what UMass Dining Sustainability did over the past two semesters. 

The UMass Student Farmers Markets took place from September to November and during the month of April, providing an opportunity to support local artists, farmers, musicians, and vendors. The UMass Student Farm will continue to sell their CSA shares at the fall market starting again in September 2018. 

In February over 35 individuals from 25 colleges and universities throughout New England came together for the Farm to Campus Summit hosted by UMass Dining to discuss food service sustainability. ​Attendees participated in collective and small group discussions to exchange strategies to measure, report, and increase utilization of local food and reduce waste.  Andy Kendall of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation emphasized how collective efforts such as those reached during the Farm to Campus Summit are integral to facilitate systematic change that will have positive impacts on regional farmers and overall food production in New England.

On this year's Earth Day, students representing UMass Permaculture offered seed bomb making at the Amherst Sustainability Festival and sold zines made by students in the permaculture practicum course at Easthampton's Pioneer Valley Zine Fest. On campus, the Earth Day Farmers' Market showcased the incredible variety of sustainability initiatives going on at UMass, ranging from Food Recovery Network to Rack City Thrift. 

A huge thank you to all of the growers, distributors, educators, and innovators who make it possible to foster a campus community that is conscious of its impact and constantly striving to be a leader in food system sustainability. We couldn't do it without you!

Photo credit: Keith Toffling

The UMass Student Farming Enterprise has recently finished building an off-grid greenhouse at the Agricultural Learning Center in Amherst, MA. The National Science Foundation grant funded the project with the objective of educating students about renewable energy in agricultural settings. Throughout the past four years, interns and students have been involved with the development of the greenhouse, steering the project and learning the ins and outs of implementing an off-grid greenhouse.  

The limiting factor in designing the greenhouse was being able to run it without electricity or fossil fuels in the middle of agricultural fields. ​The Student Farm hired Spartan Solar to help create a system to heat each raised bed and maintain a soil temperature of about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Solar collectors located right outside the greenhouse use the sun to heat up tubes filled with glycol and water, which is then pumped underground to storage tanks inside the greenhouse. There is a temperature sensor in the beds that indicates when the system needs to move the heated glycol from the storage tanks and into tubes inside the beds to heat up the soil. Amanda explained that "it is much more energy efficient to heat the soil rather than to heat the air. Most greenhouses burn through propane in the winter to keep them warm enough." However, air easily escapes through the plastic lining of a greenhouse, which is not only expensive but unsustainable as well.  

In addition to the solar collectors heating the soil, solar panels will power the sensors, pumps, and vents in the greenhouse to maintain a temperature conducive to what the plants growing inside need to thrive as well. This temperature control and increased protection from frost, wind, and precipitation is essential to grow certain species of plants in New England. This summer, the Student Farm will be planting heirloom tomatoes from Laughing Dog Farm in Gill, MA and basil in the greenhouse. These crops will do well in this environment because they appreciate the additional heat in the summer and the protection from weather, disease, and insects. In the fall, they will be using the greenhouse for season extension and plan to direct seed cold-hardy greens and transplant kale into the bed space. Amanda is excited to see how the Student Farm will be able to use the space and to discover how it will affect their operation. 

The Student Farming Enterprise would like to thank the following people for their time and assistance with this project: John Gerber (Stockbridge School of Agriculture), Ben Weil (UMass Amherst), Nancy Hanson (Hampshire College), Kate Maiolatesi (Holyoke Community College), Sarah Berquist (UMass Amherst), Zack Zenk (UMass Amherst), and all of the students and student farmers who have been involved over the years. ​