An important milestone for sustainable food access and education at the University of Michigan has been reached! The Farm Stand, a partnership between the Campus Farm at Matthaei Botanical Gardens and U-M's Sustainable Food Program, nested within Student Life Sustainability, has launched its new mobile trailer. This achievement was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on August 29, 2024. This new trailer is an exciting step forward in making fresh, local produce more accessible to the campus community.
Watch highlights from the ribbon cutting here.
The journey to this achievement has been years in the making. Early efforts to spread awareness and increase access to fresh, local produce included partnerships with MDining and the Campus Farm and in 2017, the Campus Farm began successfully growing produce for MDining. By 2019, students had a growing desire to make local produce available to everyone on campus, not just those not eating in cafeterias.
In true "campus-as-lab" fashion, student leaders from the farm collaborated with an ENVIRON 391 course to conduct survey work. They asked where students get their produce, what they buy, if access was an issue, and what their preferred methods would be for obtaining produce. The top request was for a brick-and-mortar space, but the next most popular, and budget-friendly, option was an on-campus Farm Stand. In collaboration with U-M's Sustainable Food Program, the Farm Stand was planned in 2019 and rolled out during the height of the pandemic in fall 2020.
Student Life Sustainability Assistant Director, Clara Gamalski recalls, "We started planning the Farm Stand in November 2019, expecting to open in the fall. Then we had to adapt - amidst a spending freeze, a virtual semester, and an uncertain world. These students are gritty - and we figured it out. In September 2020, we opened with a Michigan dining tent turned inside out and a card table from my basement. And people came! Each year, the Farm Stand grew a little more. In 2021, the focus was on expanding operations; in 2022, attention turned to outreach and education, again informed by a 391 project. By 2023, the Farm Stand had robust sales and educational programs, led by a dedicated student management team ready to tackle new challenges."
The Farm Stand offers produce at discounted prices for students and also donates to the Maize and Blue Cupboard. Additionally, 25% of sales go into UMSFP’s Student Food Empowerment Fund, supporting student projects that use food as a tool for social change. Even as sales expand, the Farm Stand has maintained a customer base of over 80% students. This speaks to the legacy of student-led stewardship. It’s an example of student food sovereignty - the idea that students want to and can be decision-makers about the food they consume while at UM.
The commitment to the "Campus-as-Lab" approach supports this kind of innovation. Students are provided with opportunities to develop, pilot, and evaluate interventions in ways that enhance their learning and advance sustainability goals. The new mobile trailer, built by students in the UM Community Design Build course using wood from cottonwood trees that fell on campus, is a fantastic example of this hands-on, sustainable approach.
The Farm Stand will be open every Thursday from 12-3 PM on S. Ingalls Mall, now through mid-November. Come support U-M students, pick up some fresh produce, and be part of this exciting movement.
