The Facts:
A proposal presented by the Wolfpack Environmental Student Association to the Board of Trustees last week seeks to establish a community garden on campus.
Our Opinion:
A community garden would yield many benefits to the campus community, including a unique educational experience.
The weekly Campus Farmers Market in the Brickyard provides students, faculty and staff with an opportunity to purchase fresh, local produce and other products. The program has been a great success on campus and has increased its number of vendors for the spring semester in an effort to provide students with even more options while enhancing its educational message.
Now, what if the same elements of edification and sustainable produce could be brought even closer to home?
That is one of the goals of a proposal approved by the Board of Trustees at its last meeting. The bid, presented by students from the Wolfpack Environmental Student Association, was a part of the fall semester’s Think Outside the Brick competition and envisioned a plan to launch a community garden at N.C. State.
Community gardening is an idea that has gained significant momentum across the U.S. as a part of the local food movement and has commonly been associated with sustainability and “green living.”
As a land-grant institution with one of the best agriculture schools in the nation, the University should wholeheartedly support the concept and see it through to fruition. One community garden is not going to solve world hunger or revolutionize the way students on campus eat, but it is part of the educational process.
Community gardens are an opportunity for students to learn about the foods they eat and they can serve as a catalyst to connect students with the realities of the land. Certain foods grow well in the Raleigh — and N.C. — environment, others do not. The latter necessitate shipping and import, practices which have a quantifiable effect on produce quality and the environment.
Turning toward a locavore, and completely organic, lifestyle is not a realistic expectation for most students, but the Students for Organic Living Garden can help students identify with the efforts many people are making to change that notion.
The proposed garden locations — in between Tucker and Owen Residence Halls or near the Marye Anne Fox Labs — would make for an excellent campus addition and aid students in better understanding the work that goes into the foods they eat.
The campus community should stand behind the project with its support — financial and otherwise. It would be a valuable educational opportunity for students and, on a very practical level, would add even more local produce to the budding Campus Farmers Market.