In June 2017, the U-M Campus Farm hit a big milestone. Student farm managers loaded a truck with chard and kale and headed for Hill Dining Hall, where the produce was prepped for lunch service just 20 minutes later. Deliveries later in the summer brought cherry tomatoes and zucchini to tables across campus.

In partnership with MDining, student managers of the Campus Farm located at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens are now able to feed their peers the fruits of their labor, increasing awareness of the impact of sustainability in food production across campus. The initiative is a point of pride for Jeremy Moghtader, the farm’s first full-time staff manager.

To make it happen, the farm first had to achieve USDA GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) Certification. “The certification process involves a very technical audit of the farm’s records and procedures, an inspection of the facility, and observation of the harvest and post-harvest handling process along with traceability and water quality testing,” Moghtader said.

At the Campus Farm, students, faculty, and staff engage in hands-on food production, education, and research, and student managers earn valuable skills in leadership development and problem solving. The farm hosts food systems related classes, and it partners and collaborates on new course development, lab exercises, and research at all academic levels.

It boasts three new passive solar greenhouses, called hoophouses, which helps synchronize production and student engagement opportunities with the academic year. Hoophouses harness solar energy for year-round production of local produce even in places with winters as cold as Michigan’s. Nutritious leafy greens like spinach, kale, and collards can grow inside all winter long, and the production of warm season crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers is extended.

“The hoophouse allows students the opportunity to engage with the farm throughout the academic year, both with planting and harvesting,” Moghtader said. “In addition, winter production better meets the peak demand for MDining at a time when local produce is hardest to source.”

Prior to returning to his alma mater, Moghtader served as director of programs and farm manager at the Michigan State University Student Organic Farm, where he trained hundreds of new and beginning farmers as part of the Organic Farmer Training Program and Farmer Field School he co-developed and led there. “I am very excited to be back at U-M collaborating with SEAS students, faculty, and staff to make a more sustainable future,” he said.