Introduction (GH)

BACKGROUND

Lafarm is a sustainability initiative at Lafayette College whose mission is to integrate curriculum practice in sustainable food and agriculture for the campus community. Lafarm grows produce for the dining halls, recycle nutrients from composted food back to the soil, and serves as a laboratory for student-faculty education and research.

Lafarm is located at the Metzgar Field Athletic Complex which is about three miles from the main campus. It is a two acre working farm and community garden. The institutionalization of Lafarm started with student Jenn Bell, who in 2009 with the help of Professor Kney received a grant from the Clinton Global initiative University Conference which funded the initial purchase and construction of LaFarm. Jenn was in charge of the farm until 2012 until the project received additional grants which allowed Lafarm to hire a Garden Manager, Sarah Edmonds. Today, the current members of the Lafarm Board are Professor Cohen, Professor Brandes, Professor Lawrence, and Professor Germanowski.

Lafarm grows a multitude of fruits and vegetables and has since expanded participation to members of the Lafayette community and the local community. The produce from Lafarm provides produce to the dining halls and composts waste from the dining halls back into the nutrients for the farm creating a food loop. Remaining space at Lafarm is used as a garden for members of the local community in Easton and Forks Township.

As of today, Lafarm does not have a greenhouse to further increase produce and educational purposes. Along with past Capstone Projects, we believe that the implementation of a greenhouse would be of great benefit.

Summary of LaFarm Greenhouse 2015 Report

Please refer to their project here: http://sites.lafayette.edu/egrs451-fa15/files/2015/11/LaFarm-Greenhouse-Final-Report.pdf

The purpose of the 2015 LaFarm Greenhouse Report was to determine the initial steps to create a sustainable greenhouse that would best fulfill the current needs of LaFarm. In this report, the students analyzed three standard greenhouse designs that would change LaFarm and expand educational opportunities at Lafayette College. The report also defined the processes for constructing each design sustainably within their own system.
The result of the 2015 CAPSTONE concluded with the recommendation of the construction of the structure of a Gothic Greenhouse. This group had also concluded that they recommend further research done for the implementation of a greenhouse and the power that would be required to operate the structure.

Figure 1: https://www.gothicarchgreenhouses.com/Gothic-Arch-North-Greenhouse.htm

OUR PROJECT

PROBLEM DEFINITION
With the information supplied from the previous project, we are given a base for our project. A gothic structured greenhouse is desire for implementation on Lafarm. Not only that, but the farm wishes to power this greenhouse off-the-grid and carbon neutral.

Research Question: How do we implement a greenhouse that will be carbon-neutral and would fulfill the current needs of Lafarm and the community?

Research Goal: Our goal is to integrate a carbon neutral power generation medium into the greenhouse that will be constructed on Lafarm and find a way to integrate Lafarm into the Lafayette/Forks/Easton Community.

Lafarm takes pride in its agricultural milestones and research at Lafayette College and serves as a model for Lehigh Valley small farmers that look to meet with Industry standards and being a functional garden in the community. As discussed in the 2015 Capstone “Implementing a sustainable greenhouse at Lafarm would provide a space for interdisciplinary research and education on agriculture and food in various fields of education for Lafayette College”. It would also promote sustainable vegetation in the township. The project had said in their conclusion that they hoped to attract greater interest in the greenhouse for Lafarm from students and faculty to increase Lafarm’s production. They recommended a more detailed assessment of the potential energy generation at Metzgar Fields. Our project takes on the recommendation of potential energy generation in regards to the greenhouse. The project will take into account social context, technical analysis, economic analysis, and policy analysis which will provide greater depth of research for the Lafarm board in implementing the greenhouse.

The project will analyze various forms of power generations for the greenhouse. These options will pose as carbon-neutral and “off-the-grid” power sources. We understand that further research will have to be undertaken than the information we provide, however we hope this project will be used as a guide for further calculations and designs for the greenhouse for the Lafarm Board and professional engineers.

We look to key stakeholders in order to analyze and communicate our goal and define what is desired in Lafarm’s greenhouse. A stakeholder analysis is the process of identifying the individuals or groups that are likely to affect or be affected by a proposed action, and sorting them according to their impact on the action and the impact action will have on them. Our stakeholders come from members of LaFarm and members of the Lafayette community. The main stakeholder is Sarah Edmonds, Lafarm Community Garden and Farm Manager. She is also Metzgar’s Environmental Projects Coordinator and currently resides on the Lafarm property. The next is a main source of funds for Lafarm, the Hendrickson family. This family plays a large factor in Lafarm as they originally gave a lump-sum donation to Lafarm and not donates on an annual basis. They will be a more prominent role in the economic analysis as we look towards potential funding opportunities for the greenhouse project. Members of the Lafayette Community includes professors and students. Specific professors are those who are currently members on the Lafarm board of trustees: Professor David Brandes, Professor Cohen, Professor Kira Lawrence, and Professor Dru Germanoski. As for the students, many of Lafarm’s workers are currently Lafayette students during the academic year and summer interns. Setting up meetings with each of these stakeholders will draw a better picture on how to make the greenhouse as possibility. The integration of each of these members is further implemented throughout our report.

Our project will consist of five sections: social analysis, technical analysis, economic analysis, policy analysis, and our recommendations/conclusions. Please refer to each of the sections for in-depth information regarding our project and processes. Our feasibility study will conclude with our recommendation based on our findings. As a reminder, our feasibility is based off of the findings of the previous CAPSTONE Project.