Though current funding for the Dartmouth Organic Farm runs out on July 1 of this year, the program is very likely to be funded through the joint efforts of the Outdoor Programs Office and the Environmental Studies department.
The farm was started by students five years ago at Fullington Farm, a former dairy farm purchased by the College three miles north of campus along Route 10.
The goal was to provide a alternative academic environment for students interested in using agriculture to further their studies. Because it was believed that it would be self-sufficient, the farm was never designated College funding.
Since then, the farm has fulfilled its roll as an academic facility, grown to provide a social atmosphere for students, but failed in its ability to be self-supporting.
"I think it became fairly clear, in the first couple of years when the farm was still in the pilot phase, that the projections for revenues were wildly opptimistic," Farm Manager Scott Stokoe said.
Despite its inability to stand on its own financial footing, "the program itself was still highly valued by students and some faculty," Stokoe said.
Having indicated the desire to continue the farm's operation, the current funding providers, OPO and the Environmental Studies department, have indicated they will continue funding. The specific budget remains the issue, Stokoe said.
The farm costs approximatly $40,000 each year to run, the vast majority of which is to pay for the Farm Manager's salary and benefits. The balance of the budget is used to purchase seeds and supplies for the year's planting.
Besides helping supply the Collis Caf during the Summer and Fall terms with fresh vegetables, the farm is used by students and classes to provide hands on experiences.
One of the current part-time interns, Katy Tooke '02, not only works on the farm but is designing a new solar greenhouse as part of a project through the Thayer School of Engineering.
The glass greenhouse, while only in a design phase, will be able to operate without any external heating sources. All glasshouses rely on solar energy, sunlight, to heat plants and are far more efficient in energy conservation, Tooke said.
Many glasshouses use fossil fuels to keep the inside warm during cold spells and during the night. A solar glasshouse, which faces south and is insulated on the northern, eastern and western sides, uses a thermal mass, either rocks or water, to trap heat during the day, Tooke said. Then, when it is colder, the thermal mass releases heat, allowing the solar greenhouse to require no external energy.
Greenhouses are used at the farm to extend the growing season, because New England doesn't allow enough time to grow plants such as lettuce, broccoli or basil, Tooke said.
"It's taking the environment of where we are and creating a learning environment out of that," Tooke said.
Additionally, many classes use the farm to support their own projects. Currently there is a plot at the farm dedicated to growing plants that Native Americans used to grow in this region. This summer a plot will be dedicated to growing African plants in order to provide insight for the students going on the Environmental Studies Foreign Studies Program to Kenya, full-time farm intern Devon Bonady '00 said.
As part of his class on religious ecologies, professor of religion and Native American Studies Christopher Jocks has his students working on the Native American plot.
By using the farm as the setting for class discussion and working on the plot, students learn about the way that native people viewed their natural world, Jocks said.
"This spring, particularly, has taught us a lot about the way that natives and others who depend on natural cycles, how they have to be persistent and minutely aware of changes in the natural environment," Jocks said.
Additionally, for many students, spending time at the farm has become more than just an academic experience. "I think this place is a special place for a lot of students," Bonady said.
"I have been here for a term, and I have learned more in a term than a lot of my other terms at Dartmouth," Bonady said.
"It's about so many different things. It's not just an agricultural environment. [Students] come together as different people from all sorts of diverse backgrounds" and work on a common goal and learn about each other, Tooke said.
