This year’s NC State University’s Earth Week featured “From Barn to Brick: Sustainable Food and Agriculture at NC State.” It focused on educating the campus and community about the importance of sustainable food. To kick off Earth Week, 100 helping hands from all over the community grabbed a shovel and got to work on the Agroecology Education Farm located off of Lake Wheeler Road. This event was co-hosted by the Education Farm and Campus Dining as the first step towards incorporating local and organic food throughout campus Dining Halls. NC State’s Sustainability Office is working hard to gain support For the Farm to further enhance this partnership between the Farm and Campus Dining. The more support this partnership gains, the more it and the Farm will prosper.
When the farm first started out about 3 years ago,
it barely had a tool shed or access to water. It was used as a hands-on
learning aid for students taking Agroecology courses for the minor and
concentration that are offered at NC State. Now, they have a well-equipped tool
shed, their own tractor, a well for spray irrigation and access to electricity.
The Farm even receives compost from Campus Dining to put the tremendous amount
of waste that accumulates in the dining halls to good use. The Farm had such
great production success last summer that extra produce was donated to
Raleigh’s Interfaith Food Shuttle. Green Planet Catering has also had great success
growing produce in its very own portion of the plot. The farm takes tremendous
pride in natural farming methods by using organic fertilizers and limiting the
amount of tillage done to preserve the soils. Additionally, a beneficial insect
border was established in 2008 to attract insects to better the farm, and plant
cover crops are planted in winter and summer months by students on the
remaining acreage to help protect the farm. This Farm’s hopeful message is to
show that small, sustainable plots of land can provide a better source of
fresh, local food. 
If you’ve ever eaten at a campus dining hall, you’ve
probably noticed that a large amount of food is tossed out and many dishes are
used in the process of just one meal. However, NC State’s Campus Dining has
been working towards becoming greener. Campus Dining contributes their waste as
compost to the farm and has a goal to increase the amount of waste redirected
away from landfills to 65% by 2015. Additionally,
26% of the food is sourced from local areas. Howling Cow Dairy products,
including fresh milk and ice cream throughout campus comes from NC State’s very
own farm and on-campus dairy plant; they feature pita bread, dinner rolls, and
artisan sandwich bread from Neomonde, a local bakery that uses natural products
and high quality ingredients. Campus Dining also started a program called “My
Roots Are at NC State” which connects Dining with NC growers, manufacturers,
producers and processes to further increase local and sustainable purchases.
The program also allows NC State alumni to share their own stories about
working for these companies and how their work positively impacts NC State’s
efforts to provide the best food possible for the campus. It is a great program
to trace one’s roots back to the University that made their career possible. Recently, Dining created the “Take Out
Program” which features reusable, recyclable take-out containers. One must
bring back a used container in order to receive a new one, enforcing the
concept of reuse and recycle. Containers are washed alongside dirty dishes to
be reused. Campus Dining also recycles their cooking oil. In fact, 55,000
gallons have been recycled into sustainable fuels since 2008, which is enough
to run 10 Wolfline busses for 10 years! 
The future of agriculture lies within small,
sustainable plots like the Agroecology Education Farm. The farm allows for
students and the community to become educated about the importance and
convenience of local food sources, and the partnership between NC State Campus
Dining and the Farm will add to the community’s awareness. So I ask, are you
For the Farm? To show your support, click here and help strengthen this partnership
that could act as a leading model for sustainable food everywhere. Support For
the Farm, and watch as the cycle comes full circle; from Farm-to-Fork, or as we
call it here, from Barn-to-Brick.
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