Frequently Asked Questions
As a nexus of campus activity related to food and farming, the Sustainable Food Project is the subject of much curiosity and many questions. We’ve assembled a selection of the most common questions on this page. We have also put together a white paper on the subject of starting a college farm, a PDF of which can be downloaded here. For more information, please visit the other pages of our website or e-mail sustainablefoodproject@yale.edu.
General
Do other colleges have similar programs?
How are students involved?
How is the Project funded?
How is the Project staffed?
Food
Do you have any advice on how to make institutional purchasing decisions?
Does Yale compost its food waste?
Farm
Does the Yale Farm supply the dining halls?
What do you grow in the wintertime?
Are you certified organic?
How do you fertilize?
How do you deal with pests, disease, and weeds?
Who works there?
General
Do other colleges have similar programs?
Yes. Many other colleges have local, sustainable, and organic dining services programs. A growing number of universities have college farms which serve as resources to classes or as sites for extracurricular activities. Since the Yale program was established, Brown and Harvard have hired staff for similar programs, while Columbia, Duke, Princeton, Stanford, and Wesleyan have all allocated resources for college farms or dining hall programs. Emory, Columbia, and the University of Nebraska have asked for permission to use the Project’s printed educational materials in developing their own programs.
How are students involved?
Students were instrumental in starting the Yale Sustainable Food Project and drafting our purchasing guidelines. Currently, Yale College students experience the project in myriad ways. Some simply eat sustainable food in the dining halls; others volunteer at the Yale Farm or become Farm interns; others take classes related to food and agriculture in a variety of disciplines; still others attend Chewing the Fat events on campus.
Many of the above opportunities are available to graduate students as well. Each year we hire a number of assistants from the school of forestry, and partner with student groups from FES as well as the school of management and school of public health on events and outreach.
Before students begin their freshman year at Yale, many are involved in the project through a pre-orientation program called Harvest. The Harvest program brings groups of incoming Yale freshmen and two upperclassmen leaders to family-owned, organic farms in Connecticut. Harvest trips provide a unique opportunity for Yale freshmen to spend time on some of New England’s most beautiful farms—often the same farms that provide Yale’s dining halls with seasonal, organic produce—while having fun in a friendly atmosphere before the start of classes. During Harvest, incoming freshmen are able to form a close group of friends and voice their questions and concerns about Yale before on-campus orientation begins.
How is the Project funded?
The Project has been funded by gifts from generous parents and alumni, by the Yale Advisory Committee on Environmental Management’s Green Fund, and by a University operating budget.
How is the Project staffed?
The project has one director, who is responsible for strategic planning and project oversight. The staff is composed of four other positions: a program coordinator (a two-year fellowship position available to graduates of Yale College), a farm manager, a program support position and an event and outreach coordinator.
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Food
Do you have any advice about how to make institutional purchasing decisions?
One of the first things the project did was create a set of purchasing guidelines to advise institutions and individuals interested in changing the way they buy food. You can download a PDF of this guide here.
Does Yale compost its food waste?
At present Yale does not compost its food waste, though there is hope that the University will begin to do so in the future. In the summer of 2002, in partnership with Yale University Dining Services, the Yale Sustainable Food Project ran a successful pilot project to demonstrate the viability of food waste composting.
The Office of Facilities and the Office of Sustainability have convened a waste committee. This committee is looking at all waste streams and is in the process of developing a plan for composting or anaerobic digestion of food waste.
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Farm
Does the Yale Farm supply the dining halls?
No. The Yale Farm is an educational resource and a model for sustainable agriculture. Although it is a highly focused, productive urban farm, it is not intended to produce food for the dining halls. It is intended to create a tangible link between land and food for those who volunteer and visit, and to be a resource for the numerous community groups, local schools, and Yale classes who take trips there.
Food from the farm is sold at the New Haven Farmers’ Market in Wooster Square and to a number of local restaurants. We also donate to hunger relief organizations, give some away to our volunteers, and cook on-site with our produce on a regular basis.
What do you grow in the wintertime?
Ample produce is harvested from late fall until the beginning of the winter recess: radicchio, mache, escarole, frisée, carrots, cauliflower, turnips, radishes, leeks, broccoli, cabbage, collards, and kale. In the deep winter we grow and harvest salad greens from our unheated greenhouses, dig parsnips from the ground during thaws, and have potatoes that are harvested in the fall and stored. By March, seedlings are started in the greenhouses, fields are being prepared, and we are ready to plant peas and fava beans.
All winter we have workdays at the farm, as well as weekly workshops and seminars.
Are you certified organic?
No. We choose not to be certified, although many would suggest that our practices are above and beyond what national organic standards call for. Certification is an excellent tool to guarantee that a set of production standards are being met when there is distance between the producer and the consumer. Because we sell directly to our customers, and we are able to explain our practices, we do not need a certifying agency to vouch for our practices. The Yale Farm is open to the public; we welcome visitors to come learn more about our practices.
How do you fertilize?
We focus on maintaining high levels of carbon-based organic matter in our soil in order to keep soil life active and productive. We also occasionally add crushed, powdered stone with diverse mineral profiles to ensure the presence of all the necessary trace minerals for healthy growth. We do not attempt to micromanage our crops’ fertility needs. Instead we prefer to create an environment that favors healthy soil which, in turn, favors healthy plant growth. We rely heavily on compost made at the farm, and on the University’s fall leaves (which have not been sprayed). We both compost the leaves and use them as mulch.
How do you deal with pests, disease, and weeds?
We see all problems in the garden as indicators of our own imperfect practices. To deal with pests and disease we focus on growing healthy, resistant plants. This is achieved through creating healthy soil, through timing plantings to optimize plant health, and through stress-reducing practices like mulching. We also focus on creating an environment that is inhospitable to pests and diseases: we create ample environment for natural predators of pests, and we set up irrigation and spacing to minimize fungal disease on fungus-prone plants.
Weeds often indicate a problem in our practices or in our soil’s health. We focus on reducing deep tillage, never letting weeds go to seed, and maintaining high soil organic matter. In addition, we practice frequent, shallow cultivation to kill weed seedlings as they germinate but before they are firmly established. These practices mean that weed pressure is steadily declining at the Yale Farm.
Who works there?
During the school year, work at the Yale Farm is led by a team of student farm managers and carried out by volunteers from Yale and the community. All are welcome. There are three workdays each week: Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. During the summer these workdays are held on Fridays and Saturdays from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.
During the summer there are six Lazarus Interns who work from the first week of June through late August. They are generally at the farm Tuesday through Saturday from 8:30 am until 4:30 pm and at the Wooster Square Farmers’ Market from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm on Saturday.
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