Purdue Student Farm Prepares for New Season

(photo courtesy: Purdue University)

Organizers say the Purdue University Student Farm will again offer fresh, locally grown vegetables once again to community members. Now in its second year, the farm says its Boilermaker Vegetable Season Pass will provide Purdue and West Lafayette subscribers with vegetables each week from July to November.

The 22-week program will include whatever is freshly grown and picked that week.

The produce is grown by Purdue students who work on the farm.

“The Boilermaker Vegetable Season Pass directly supports the student farm’s foundation: to teach students about small-scale agriculture, from growing it to selling it,” said Grace Moore, president of the Purdue Student Farm Club. “Not only does this program sell fresh, local vegetables to the community, but it also expands the possibilities for students like myself in the Purdue Student Farm Organization to get hands-on experience with local food systems.”

The Purdue Student Farm started the Community Supported Agriculture program in 2020. The farm hopes to register 50 subscribers for this growing season.

Petrus Langenhoven is a horticulture and hydroponics crop specialist in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and the farm’s co-director.

He says disruptions in the food supply during the early weeks of the pandemic is an important lesson resonating with the farms’ students.

“Student education is the heartbeat of the farm, and the pandemic has brought a lot of things into perspective for all of us,” said Langenhoven. “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.”

Pass holders are billed $27.50 per week for the fresh produce.  Click here to learn more.