Released July 21, 2009
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Farming is not for the faint of heart. It's hot, dirty and often backbreaking work. And it takes a lot of sunscreen, applied liberally and often, to keep sunburn at bay.
Just ask two Metro High School students, Zakia Nasrin and Zach Brazik, who have been spending their summer on several plots of land carved out of small portions of Ohio State University’s Waterman Farm.
"I have a job at Chick-Fil-A at the mall, but this is actual work," Brazik said, taking a moment's rest under a shady tree. His hands and shirt are streaked with soil, and next to him sits a dusty laptop computer bag.
Not far from him, Nasrin wanders the three rows of vegetables that have recently been covered with filmy sheets of a gauze-like material, placing rocks carefully along the edges to keep the billowy fabric from flying away. The idea behind the coverage, called Agribon Row Cover, is to minimize damage from wind and insects while allowing up to 85 percent of sunlight to reach the plants.
Watching over her work is Patrick Turner, the newly hired manager of the Student Farm at OSU, an ambitious project involving Ohio State students, faculty, Metro High School students and instructors, and a range of community volunteers.
"This is our organic production plot, which we hope to get certified this year so that we can sell our products as certified organic," said Turner, who is also a member of the Students for Food Sovereignty, a student organization interested in sustainable agriculture practices.
To be certified, a plot has to have been free of any synthetic pesticides or herbicides for at least three years. For this area, the students turned up ground that had been prairie. In this plot, Turner and his army of colleagues have planted kale, Swiss chard, broccoli, cabbage, winter squash and some melons.
A second cultivation, a high-level, integrated crop management (ICM) plot, employs a newer type of sustainable agriculture that strives to curtail the use of pesticides as much as possible, without eliminating them entirely.
"What you do is scout the vegetables for insect pests and weeds and then only apply pesticides at the most optimal time," Turner explained.
The ICM plot is home to a thriving assortment of vegetables, from Brussels sprouts to corn and tomatoes. The compact cornfield is itself the site of another experiment, using what's called the "Three Sisters" model.
"There are three plants that Native Americans planted together a lot: corn, squash and beans. The beans grow up the corn as a trellis, and they also produce their own nitrogen in the soil that provides nutrients for them and for the corn," Turner said.
"The squash shades the ground and its spiny leaves can also keep away pests like raccoons."
Another area is a transitional plot. Crops in this plot are grown without synthetic chemicals and with other organic practices, but can't be called organic until the three-year standard is met.
Produce from the farm is in high demand. Some is sold to Ohio State's Campus Dining Services and The Blackwell Inn, an on-campus hotel and conference facility known for its fine dining. Some is sold at a farmer's market at OSU Urban Arts Space on Town Street in downtown Columbus. Some produce is sent home with the students, so they and their families can enjoy the fruits of their labor.
And beginning Saturday (July 25), some of the produce will be sold at the student farm's booth at a student-organized farmer's market in the Metro High School parking lot at the corner of Kenny and Kinnear roads. Other vendors also will sell their goods at the market, which will be open every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. through at least Aug. 15.
These kinds of lessons in real-life farming are just what Mark Bennett, a professor of horticulture and crop science, hoped participants would gain from the experience.
Bennett helped coordinate and organize early efforts to get the OSU Student Farm off the ground, and he also co-taught the 2009 Student Farm Planning (Horticulture and Crop Science 294/694) class for both Ohio State undergraduate and graduate students and Metro High School students, which he called a "meeting point" where students shared their ideas and dreams for how the farm could become reality.
Bennett and Elaine Grassbaugh, research associate in horticulture and crop science, said the farm offers a myriad of benefits for students.
"We could lecture in a classroom for 40 minutes with a PowerPoint presentation, but it would never have the effect that actually getting out here and doing the work does," Bennett said. "These hands-on experiences turn out a more well-rounded student."
Grassbaugh added that the farm brings to light how food grows, "what actually goes into it," and also is getting more high school students interested in agriculture. "Some have told me that they always thought food comes from the grocery store," Grassbaugh said.
Neal Bluel, a Metro High School science teacher who is coordinating the high school students' efforts, said the experience is a different one for each student.
"Students who are more business-oriented might find coordinating the vendors for our farmers' market the most valuable experience. Other students might find more rewards in seeing plants grow from seedlings to the actual harvest. … People talk about the importance of learning 21st century skills, and they're mostly talking about technology. But these are 21st century skills -- growing food, marketing food -- because they are skills that we have lost. We are helping students connect back to the earth and to the food we eat."
Funded in part by an Excellence in Engagement Grant and by a grant from the Idea Lab at the OSU Urban Arts Space, the farm is the realization of a vision Bennett says had been percolating since around 2000. Student-run farms are becoming increasingly popular at universities around the country as a way for students to get more in touch with food production, learning about food systems and the debates between organic and traditional agriculture.
Support has also come from the PAST Foundation, a nonprofit organization located in Columbus that promotes partnerships between anthropologists and educators worldwide. Bluel said the PAST Foundation has been instrumental in supporting wide-ranging partnerships currently involving 38 collaborators, including a half-dozen colleges within the university. The PAST Foundation local project, Growing America: Urban Gardening and Distribution, also supports additional high school students from across Franklin County to become involved in the student farm and farmers' market during weeklong sessions.
For Nasrin, a soft-spoken fourth-year student who has dreams of becoming a doctor, the student farm is the perfect place to learn about something dear to her heart.
"I'm really interested in sustainable agriculture because as a doctor, I'd be focused on third-world countries and this could really apply," she said.
The high school students involved in the project are being encouraged to submit essays about their experiences to the Ohio Youth Institute in September. Six of those students will be selected to represent Ohio at the three-day Global Youth Institute hosted by The World Food Prize Foundation in Des Moines October.
She squinted into the bright July sun with a faraway look in her eyes. "I'm going to write an essay to the World Food Prize and hopefully get an internship for next summer to go to any country of my choice. That's really why I'm interested in this."
For more information:
- Watch a flash video about the student farm produced by onCampus, Ohio State's faculty and staff newspaper, online at http://oncampus.osu.edu/2009/07/food-for-thought/.
- The World Food Prize is an international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. For details about its work and its student programs, see http://worldfoodprize.org/index.htm
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http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~news/story.php?id=5287
Sources: Neal Bluel, Metro High School, 614-448-6493, bluel@themetroschool.org
Patrick Turner, 440-478-9079, turner.879@osu.edu
Editor: Julia Harris, 614-292-4971, harris.587@osu.edu
