2021: Here We Grow

Many of our plans for 2020 were on-pause in such a tumultuous year; we’re picking-up right where we left off:

With the help of the ASME club, we are looking forward to the completion of the conversion of our cultivating tractor to run on electric with a battery storage system, managed by Ben Surman ’21.  In Ben’s own words: “When I started at Lafayette, I never could have imagined getting involved with a project like this. This was a passion project for me. I hope it makes people think, ‘Look what engineers can do’.”

Our high tunnel is real!  Season extension is happening, and we’re already planning for early spring bok choi and baby carrots, summer cucumbers, and fall spinach to feed mind and body.  Our tunnel is complete with one more micro-solar installation at LaFarm, a low voltage electric system to run the automatic ventilation system.

The need for a greenhouse at LaFarm has been growing as we expand production, need a space to cure winter squash and onions, and dream of increasing farm-efficiencies for the sake of community building and farmer sanity.  In 2021, we start the search for funding, finalizing a location and design, and take the next steps of turning dreams into seedlings.

We will send a core group of students to Soul Fire Farm’s Uprooting Racism in the Food System training, as well as seek opportunities for BIPOC farm students to engage in food system training to support personal and systemic transformation.