The Big Picture: Crops for the Campus Community

Sustainable Student Farm workers learn about how to plant, cultivate and harvest using low input and organic practices. (Image by Fred Zwicky)

Every year, student workers at the Sustainable Student Farm grow 40 to 50 varieties of fruits and vegetables on six acres of local land, following low-input and organic farming practices. The farm’s annual harvest—30,000 pounds of produce in a May-through-December growing season—shows up in campus dining halls, with much of it used in tomato sauce, hot sauce or pumpkin puree. Non-students also may enjoy the farm’s bounty. Produce can be purchased weekly from
a seasonal farmstand on the Main Quad and through an online store at ssf.cropsciences.illinois.edu/online-store.