T
he Purdue Student Farm will provide fresh locally grown vegetables to community members for the second year in a row. The Purdue Student Farm started their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program in 2020 to support the local community and to respond to their own challenges with the closure of the student dining halls, their primary customers. According to Steve Hallett, professor of horticulture and co-director of the Purdue Student Farm, the Farm’s students have always wanted to learn about direct sales in local agriculture and to sell directly to the local community. The new CSA program provides an educational experience for students as well as provide fresh vegetables to the local community. The Farm’s goal for the 2021 season is to enlist 50 subscribers for the 22-week program.
"Student education is the heartbeat of the farm, and the pandemic has brought a lot of things into perspective for all of us,” said Petrus Langenhoven, Horticulture and Hydroponics Crop Specialist in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and the Farm’s co-director. “We realized once again how important it is to have locally grown fresh produce when supply chains are broken, and that teaching the next generation of growers and horticulturalists is one vital aspect of sustainability. Students, staff and faculty are working hard to increase our community's resilience. The Purdue Student Farm is grateful to be an integral part of this”.
“We hope to establish new relationships with our local community as a trusted supplier of healthy, safe, and nutritious food,” said Hallett. “It’s exciting to be reconnecting after this last year; meeting people as they pick up their fresh food; knowing that our programs are reaching the local area. I am very proud of our students and their farm. It’s a very exciting time.”
Purdue Extension coordinator, Julie Huettman, was one of the first subscribers for the 2020 CSA program. “The Boilermaker Vegetable Season Pass was a great experience,” said Huettman. “Easy to order online, convenient pickup and produce already selected and put in a bag. The variety of produce helped motivate me to try out new recipes. I’m looking forward to subscribing again this year!”
The Boilermaker Vegetable Season Pass will provide Purdue and West Lafayette subscribers with Purdue student grown vegetables each week from July to November. The 22-week program will include whatever is freshly grown and picked that week.
For more information visit: https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/studentfarm/boilermaker-vegetable-season-pass/
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