For the past four months, the nine students selected to run the University of Massachusetts Student Farm have had their hands full managing 25 acres of land and preparing for the upcoming production season. After spending hours removing mulch in the rain, their fingers numb from planting onions in the cold and their jeans were stained brown from the fish fertilizer they used.
Regardless, the students said that the hard work was worth it to achieve their common goal: bringing fresh, organic produce to the UMass community.
“We want to see that joy that people get on their faces when they eat our food. It’s just really special,” sophomore sustainable food and farming major Lucy Stevens said.
The Student Farm aims to teach agriculture students how to manage a production system from seed to plate. Amanda Brown, the program’s director and co-founder, said that her original vision for the farm was to provide Stockbridge students with a hands-on farming internship.
The Student Farm requires students to take two classes in the spring and two in the fall, either in a lecture-based format or by going outside and doing the work themselves, to learn the basics of how to run a farm.
Randy Brenney, a sustainable food and farming and English double major, said that working on the Student Farm has taught her patience and persistence. When she was tasked with handling the farm’s irrigation system, she spent over 45 minutes wrestling with the tool and was covered from head to toe with mud and rain. After receiving help from the farm manager, Brenney was able to successfully finish the job.
Students begin planning in January, harvest in late June and sell product in early July through November. They grow 30 to 50 crops annually, including onions, carrots and eggplant along with herbs such as basil, dill and cilantro.
Members stay on campus through August and work on the farm Monday through Friday. The program rotates between two farms, one on campus and one in South Deerfield. By the end of the year, students can plan for production, drive a tractor, apply common harvest methods and follow food safety regulations and national organic practices and standards.
Junior sustainable food and farming major Grace Tolla said that the summer season is the hardest part of the job but also the most rewarding.
“It’s really physical. It’s something you can feel in your body,” Tolla said. “It’s going to be 90 degrees. You can be out in the field working for 40 hours a week.”
Tolla previously studied agriculture at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York. When the program was cut after its director retired, Tolla began looking into other schools in the area, where she discovered the Student Farm program.
“When I came to tour, we came to the farm, and it was super beautiful out,” Tolla said. “I was like, ‘I have to do this because it’s so much responsibility that they give you,’ and it’s one of the only experiences at UMass where they will literally trust you with a full-blown business.”
Program directors try to limit their involvement and have the students do as much as they can on their own. Students are assigned different roles including greenhouse manager, plant manager, delivery driver and harvest manager.
Brown added that students can learn how to run a business. They meet with representatives from their top retailers, such as Big Y and UMass Dining, to discuss pricing and delivery.
In summer, the Student Farm is launching a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Customers pay a set price up front and then receive 25 pounds of local produce every week for the next 10 weeks. The Student Farm created a silent film to promote the program to UMass students and the broader Pioneer Valley, an idea proposed by Stevens and Brenney.
Stevens knew she wanted to work on a farm since she was in high school. She was always interested in mushroom foraging and originally came to UMass as a plant and soil sciences major. Upon taking her first Stockbridge class, though, she decided to switch her major.
“I found a lot more community within sustainable food and farming, and Stockbridge in general,” Stevens said. “It’s such a welcoming community of people who really want to help their community through food.”
Brenney, who was admitted through the College of Engineering, has always had an interest in agriculture. Her mother was a gardener, and as a child she loved picking and eating tomatoes from the field.
Upon switching sustainable food and farming, Brenney felt that “it’s actually been a match made in heaven. …I know I’ll have to put tomatoes in the crates this time, and I can’t snack on them, but it’s just fun to harvest.”
According to Brown, over 300 students have completed the program in the past two decades. After graduating from Stockbridge, alumni have found careers in farm management positions, nonprofit organizations, educational farms and even local, state and federal agencies such as the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA).
“People leave with more skills than they think through this program,” Brown said. “Students don’t realize how much work goes into being able to provide food from seed to plate.”
Melanie Guilderson can be reached at [email protected].
