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2016
The University of Michigan Campus Farm is a project of the University of Michigan Sustainable Food Program (UMSFP). The mission of UMSFP is to foster collaborative leadership that empowers students to create a sustainable food system at the U-M and become change agents for a vibrant planet. The Campus Farm provides a living-learning laboratory, offering educational resources for volunteers, classes and community members in organic farming, sustainability, small business practices and more. Fostering a culture of sustainability on campus, the Campus Farm reduces food waste, and delivers student-grown produce to campus dining locations.
A new partnership with Michigan Dining through Fields Café in Palmer Commons shows great promise. In order to effectively supply food to Fields Café during the academic year, the Campus Farm will need to both extend its growing season into the academic year as well as streamline delivery processes. We will explore the possibility of season extension of the Farm operations to increase faculty and student engagement during the fall and spring. This would provide more time for class visits and other engaged learning opportunities.
Student team: Jacob Grochowski, Nicholas Machinski.
Administrative Support: Robert Grese, M.S.L.A, Director, Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum, Professor of Landscape Architecture at University of Michigan SNRE; Catriona Mortell-Windecker, Academic Programs Team Lead, Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum.
Supporting Student Group: Cultivating Community, University of Michigan Sustainable Food Program.
With the rising costs of tuition and the inconvenience of local grocery stores, food insecurity for U-M students has significantly increased. Many students do not have the financial means to afford groceries from higher-priced food markets close to campus, nor the time for the 1.5-hour round-trip bus ride to a more affordable grocery store. The U-M campus and city area adjacent to campus has become a “food desert,” with minimal and expensive options for students to purchase food.
Maize & Blue Cupboard is a student-run organization that addresses all levels of student food insecurity on campus by holding monthly food distributions. We believe all students, whether on a tight budget or physically restrained from getting to a grocery store, deserve access to healthy and affordable food. The Cupboard meets the needs of students by forming a complete sustainable circle of food waste. We source our food from Food Gatherers, a local food rescue organization, to create a path for food rescued from grocery stores to get into the hands of those who need it instead of it being wasted. Then, with any leftover food remaining, we continue its food rescue path to more people in need by donating the remainder of our food to Community Action Network.
Student Team: Zoe Hawtof, Michael Tang, Luke Shenton, Madeline Rabe, Anet Szatkowski, Forest Burczak.
Partner: Food Gatherers
Our project team will create a Living Learning Laboratory (LLL) to engage the U-M community in developing sustainable campus waste management solutions. Currently, U-M sends over 12,000 tons of waste to a landfill; by 2025, U-M aims to reduce this to 7,900 tons. The team will focus on evaluating systems for capturing energy (biogas) from waste rather than allowing it to be emitted as greenhouse gas (GHG) from landfills.
Student Team: Julie Bateman, Seth Buchsbaum, Sampurna Datta, Dr. Xunchang Fei, Dr. Xavier Fonoll Almansa, T.J. Plegue, Jacob Villarreal Pohlenz.
Advisors: Dr. Dimitrios Zekkos, Dr. Lutgarde Raskin, Dr. Jerome P. Lynch.
2015
This project hopes to provide a sustainable, experiential learning garden that engages the medical campus and local community in the practices of gardening, nutrition education, food security, and overall health and wellness. Katie Goldrath, Sara McLaughlin, Sarah Akkina, Meredith Hickson, Sarah Bliss, Anthony Hage, Rebecca Mutesi.
2014
This project intends to put bee-hives on a roof on central campus and to also establish a honeybee sanctuary at the Campus Farm. Honeybees are essential to food security and are key to sustainable ecosystems— 1 in 3 bites of food is the direct result of honeybee pollination. This projects aims to raise awareness among students’ of the importance of bees and to partner with professors and classes for research and teaching opportunities. Bees on Roofs/ Roofs on Bees hopes to launch by June 2014 and the project leads are Mike Bianco, a Master’s student in Art and Design, and Parker Anderson, a Master’s Student in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment and Landscape Architecture, in collaboration with UM Bees.
With a Fall 2014 intended launch date, this project will start an Environmental Community Program (ECP) within the Michigan Community Scholars Program Michigan Learning Community. Many students at the University of Michigan have a passion for sustainability and the environment. ECP will give students, specifically incoming freshmen, the opportunity to explore environmental issues and problem solving and will help create the next generation of sustainability leaders. The project team includes: Mary Hirt, LSA; Jessica Kreamer, LSA; Karishma Satapathy, LSA; and Danielle Schmutz a master’s student in the school of social work.
This project aims to help create a culture of reuse at the University of Michigan by establishing student-run, event-based compost programs within four academic units across campus. This work is an outgrowth of the successful composting efforts conducted by the Law School and the Student Sustainability Initiative. The project lead is Chris Wolff, a Master’s student in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment and the Ford School of Public Policy.
Waste reduction is one of the University's most urgent sustainability goals. One of the main culprits of waste on campus is the dining halls and Food Recovery Network (FRN) aims to do something about it. FRN diverts leftover food from UM Dining Halls to local food banks. They are currently successfully running this effort in two campus dining halls; with PBSIF funding that will support the purchase of freezers, trays and coolers, FRN will able to expand the program to all campus dining halls by June 2015. The FRN team includes: Hannah Gingerich; PiTE, Joseph Letner, Biomedical Engineering, and Taylor Flowers, SAC/ Communications.
This project, that also has a Fall 2014 launch date, will replace some of the turf grass at the Music school pond with native grasses. The native grass will help reestablish the natural ecological system at the pond and the team will be looking for volunteers in the Fall to help with planting efforts! Project leads include: Dagmar Schoettle, LSA and Avery Gleason, LSA.
With a Fall 2014 expected launch date, this project will place picnic tables equipped with solar-powered charging stations on north and central campus and aims to show just how easy it can be to incorporate solar into everyday life. With these tables, the desire to enjoy a hot sunny day will no longer be an excuse to not do homework! This project will also include an educational campaign about solar energy. The team includes Laura Hobbs, LS&A and Matt Irish, Chemical Engineering.
2013
A reusable dishware program that aims to assist in efforts to reduce waste at the University of Michigan. The program would allow student organizations to rent dishes and silverware for their events. The Go Blue Ware program would eliminate the purchase, use, and disposal of all paper, plastic, and Styrofoam products for student programs and events, making funds available to students for the purchase of sustainable food or other like products. Arielle Fleisher, Megan Pfeiffer, Dana Rollison, Julia Winfield
Since U-M produces future leaders, it is important that they have exposure to the design mechanisms and practices of complex and closed loop systems in nature. Using permaculture design is innovative and having it in a visible area where students can be naturally engaged to volunteer and/or eat the food is a key component to this endeavor. The purpose of a satellite garden is to expose more students to the educational opportunities that reside within a campus farm. Madeline Dunn
2012
Increase access to sustainable food on campus by running a food kiosk offering locally grown or sourced produce and grocery staples on a weekly basis. Cynthia Shih, Alex Green, Stacy Matlen, Kasper, John Graham, Cassandra Malis and Alicia Chiaravalli.
Aims to enhance the accessibility of biking on campus through the installation of public air pumps on both the central and north campuses, the installation of a fix-it station with bike repair tools, and the development of repair workshops in collaboration with Common Cycle. Arielle Fleisher
Offers a reusable alternative to disposable take-out containers at the U-Club of the Michigan Union. After use, containers will be dropped off and washed at the union, cutting down significantly on the waste produced from takeout containers. Phel Meyer, Rich Grousset and David Yang.
Located at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, where participating students will learn about agriculture and food systems and, harvest fruits and vegetables for campus residence halls or the food kiosk. Lindsey MacDonald and Lauren Beriont.