Abstract:
Student farms at United States colleges and universities enhance curricula by integrating research, extension and teaching missions, reinforcing classroom instruction, and improving job training. Student farms are sites of agricultural production and marketing at which students have, through coursework and/or internships, opportunities to supplement classroom instruction with "real world" experience. Student farms and their influence on curricula began decades ago, but the number of farms and their impact have increased recently. Although increasingly numerous, the structure, programming, and operating principles of student farms have not been studied. A lack of knowledge regarding student farms hinders the development of new farms and ongoing success of existing farms. Therefore, an online survey of student farm managers was distributed in order to gain insights into the current status of student farms in the United States.
The data were used to determine that college and university student farms are diverse in operating characteristics. Though many groups contribute to successful farm operation, undergraduate students are the largest group to participate in and benefit from student farms. Working with a limited budget was the most significant challenge faced, though despite various challenges, farm managers on average, reported that their farms were operating successfully. Managers also indicated that their farm played a role in attracting students to attend their college or university.
Keywords:
student farms, farm manager survey
 Leis_March 2011 NACTA JOURNAL-2.pdf | [ ] | 172 kB |
