Background

LaFarm is a sustainability initiative at Lafayette College with the mission to integrate curriculum and practice in sustainable food and agriculture for the campus community. LaFarm grows produce for the dining halls, recycles nutrients from composted food back to the soil, and serves as a laboratory for collaborative student-faculty education and research. The farm grows a multitude of vegetables including tomatoes, squash, peppers, sweet corn, potatoes, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower. The farm has also expanded participation beyond just Lafayette and into the local community, and while engagement with Forks residents is still in its early stages, it is has increased in recent years. Remaining space at Lafarm is used as a garden for members of the local community in Easton and Forks Township. Lafarm works closely with Lafayette’s food manager, Bon Appetit, to provide locally sourced produce and promote healthy, sustainable lifestyles.

Lafayette College students harvesting crops at LaFarm in 2014

LaFarm was started in 2009 and is located on Metzgar Field Complex, approximately 3 miles from campus. Sparked by a grant from the Clinton Global Initiative University Conference, student Jenn Bell ‘11 was able to orchestrate the purchase and construction of LaFarm’s primary fence, shed, and seeds. After becoming a fully functioning farm in 2013, LaFarm has seen significant growth in both crop production and acquired land, especially over the past three years. The Farm has been operating within a 2-acre plot which includes over 37,000 square feet of production space. LaFarm has not only seen its production space double since its founding, but also its production capacity. Lafayette also owns several adjacent acres to LaFarm, but they are currently leased out to a local GMO farmer (EGRS Capstone Report, 2015). Earlier this year, LaFarm was allocated an additional acre of land and recently fenced off the new portion of the farm for practical use. Moreover, the school intends on adding a small hoop house to Lafarm, which is projected to be functioning by March 2018. Since 2013, the Farm has been managed by Sarah Edmonds, who works closely with Lafayette students and faculty to utilize LaFarm’s resources as effectively as possible.

Problem Definition

Early seed starting is an important part of extending the growing season for LaFarm and greatly affects its production capabilities. To achieve this benefit, LaFarm rents greenhouse space at a greenhouse in Emmaus, PA, nearly 45 minutes away from the facilities at LaFarm. Sarah Edmonds, the Farm Manager at LaFarm, tends to this greenhouse space each week, making the 90 minute round trip journey at least 3 times a week, if not more during crucial times of the growing season (S. Edmonds, personal communication, October 18, 2017). This burden lasts from late February/early March until late April, when it is time to transplant the seedlings from the off-site greenhouse, a very time and labor-intensive task. In addition to being a burden of time and money, the constant trips to and from the greenhouse increase the carbon footprint of LaFarm, a divergence from the Farm and the College’s sustainability initiatives. While previous capstone groups have made progress towards implementing a sustainable greenhouse at LaFarm, there are still numerous obstacles that need to be overcome, mainly tasks associated with the planning phase of a project including budgeting, procuring permits and obtaining price quotes.

Summary of Previous Capstones

Currently, the LaFarm Greenhouse Initiative is in its third phase of development. The first iteration of the project took place in the Fall of 2015, where the capstone group focused predominantly on the background research necessary to understand the scope and scale of the project. The Fall 2015 group concluded that a Gothic style greenhouse be installed at LaFarm and recommended that more research be done into the implementation phase of the project, in particular assessing the energy required to operate the structure. The 2016 Greenhouse team continued the work of the previous group, however mainly focused their attention on clean energy systems that would make the greenhouse carbon zero.The prospect of a carbon-neutral system led to an extensive technical analysis that, while informative, was beyond the scope of the project in the given stage. The 2016 capstone project concluded that the next steps to be taken include an analysis of water supply and irrigation systems as well as continuing research into clean energy alternatives to achieve carbon-zero status.

The previous two capstone reports have been sufficient in laying the groundwork for the third iteration of the Greenhouse Initiative. They provide detailed economic and technical analyses of necessary steps for the implementation of a functioning greenhouse. However, neither capstone reports were able to secure funding of any kind for the Greenhouse.

Research Question

What steps need to be taken in order to design and build a Greenhouse that suits the needs and contexts of LaFarm?

Research Goal

Our goal is to provide the means and framework to successfully integrate a functioning and effective Greenhouse at LaFarm. At this stage of the project, this involves a strong focus on the technical components of the greenhouse; the design of the structure itself, heating systems, irrigation systems etc. Much of this design information comes from Sarah Edmonds, as she is one of the largest stakeholders in this project and thus has a large influence on the final design elements of the greenhouse. One such design element is the addition of a classroom space at the greenhouse site as a means of fostering educational experiences at LaFarm. Although the previous greenhouse report had suggested further researching renewable energy sources to achieve carbon zero status, our group is focusing our resources on the actual implementation of a greenhouse, leaving the carbon zero component for a future capstone project. Our project also outlines the economic analysis necessary to secure capital funding for the greenhouse, including lifecycle, tax benefit, and payback period analysis. Additionally, our project aims to understand the project’s direct costs as well as the future operation & maintenance costs associated with greenhouse operation. The bulk of our economic analysis lies in data collection and mainly involves obtaining price quotes/data from various entities. Our end goal is to make recommendations on how to implement a greenhouse with the ability to be carbon-neutral in the future so that LaFarm can stay on its current trend of rapid expansion and growth.

Our project is comprised of five sections: of social analysis, political analysis, and technical analysis and the final conclusion. Please refer to these sections for further in-depth analysis. We hope our recommendations can be used in future decision making with regards to building a greenhouse at LaFarm.

Our Recommendation:

On recommendation from 2015 group, we are suggesting a 30’x96’ gothic style greenhouse be installed on LaFarm. As part of our project, we did not want to get an off-the-shelf greenhouse, as we wanted to have a design that fit the needs specific to LaFarm. However, at this early stage in LaFarm’s life, we have chosen to recommend an off-the-shelf greenhouse from a locally-sourced supplier, Nolt’s Greenhouse Supplies, equipped with technologies tailored to the specific contexts of LaFarm. The details surrounding our recommendation are further broken down within each section of this report.  Our vision is to integrate a greenhouse at LaFarm in order to complement the planned expansion of LaFarm and its ever-increasing production capacity. 

Next Section: Technical Considerations