by Lara Nagle

Community members, faculty, students, and project participants for the Student-Centered Farm at Penn State convened for two hours on both October 28th and 29th to build upon previous visioning meetings that occurred last semester and over the summer.  Student members from the project’s subcommittee working groups, as well as facilitators from the Penn State Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment, helped to facilitate small-group conversations about Curricula/Food System Minor, Business/Operations, and Site Design.  Discussions amended, added to, and prioritized a series of concepts for the program and design of the proposed student farm according to Immediate Priorities (initiation – 2 years), Medium-Term Priorities (3-5 years), and Long-Term Priorities (6+ years).

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Held in the Stuckeman Family Building that houses the schools of landscape architecture and architecture, the discussion groups collaborated in the tradition of participatory community design, rearranging and debating ideas using display boards and flowing freely between topics, to better understand the extent of the project and identify already existing assets and resources that support future goals.  Not surprisingly, time was the limiting factor in terms of generating and organizing ideas.

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Outcomes from the meeting included the development of many great ideas for consideration in the master plan and business plan of the farm, as well as the exchange of ideas and perspectives between many diverse stakeholders. Many great conversations occurred, with participation by representatives of Housing and Food Services, undergraduates across colleges, faculty, graduate students from several colleges, administration and the local restaurateur community.

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The next step, which has already begun, is to compile participant contributions and incorporate them into farm design, curriculum development and program planning.  Students, faculty and staff in the working subcommittees (Site Design, Business/Operations, Curricula, and Outreach/Communications) are excited to process these ideas in order to:

  • complete a timeline for program and design
  • emphasize priorities for the Food Systems minor and outreach education opportunities
  • create a series of designs that fulfill the priorities identified over time
  • refine the business plan to assist with fundraising

Thank you to all participants for your contributions to making this a productive as well as inspiring conversation!