The Oklahoma State University Student Farm signed a memorandum of understanding this summer with Pete’s Pantry on the OSU Stillwater campus.
The memorandum outlines an ongoing partnership between the Student Farm and Pete’s Pantry, specifying the farm will provide various produce to the pantry based on season and availability.
“The last basic needs survey completed at OSU identified around 49% of our students experience some form of food insecurity,” said Brian Blevins, coordinator of basic needs for Pete’s Pantry. “Pete’s Pantry and the Student Farm’s partnership allows us to provide more access to fresh produce to our shoppers. I also find value in OSU-grown food going to feed our students.”
The OSU Student Farm was established in 2023 as a hands-on living classroom for employees and volunteers involved in all aspects of vegetable production including planting, irrigating, fence-building and harvesting. The site has produced 78,000 pounds of produce to-date for residents in the past two years.
The farm’s bounty is harvested and delivered daily to Our Daily Bread Food and Resource Center Stillwater, a food bank serving all of Payne County. Pete’s Pantry has also received produce donations since the farm’s first year of operation.
In spring 2024, the farm expanded to five acres and received the donated lease of two John Deere tractors and a Kubota tractor. The Student Farm staff has devoted hundreds of hours to cleaning and updating a house located on the grounds to serve as the operation’s headquarters. The farm was the original home of OSU’s Swine Research and Education Center.
A post-wash harvest station is currently being installed at the farm to prepare fruits and vegetables for expanded distribution to food banks in Oklahoma’s metropolitan areas. The wash station is made possible through a partnership with the OSU Innovation Foundation and support from OSU’s Human Performance and Nutrition Research Institute.
About 24,000 pounds of food have been grown at the student farm in 2024. As the summer progresses, the managers and staff continue to harvest sweet potatoes, corn, okra, squashes, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and melons. Pumpkins will also be ready to pick within the next couple of months. Transplants and seeds for broccoli, cabbage, napa cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, turnips, beets, carrots and spinach have been planted for the fall season.
“We had a few more challenges this year with heat, insects and disease, but we are excited for the construction of our small post-harvest facility,” said Dr. Justin Quetone Moss, head of the OSU Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. “We will be able to quickly get the vegetables stored in the appropriate temperature, cure certain crops such as onions, and safely rinse soil or debris off produce. We are now working to raise funds to continue expanding production acreage and support undergraduate and graduate student workers.”
The farm will also designate one acre to produce certified naturally grown strawberries later this year.
Source : okstate.edu