Background
LaFarm is an acronym used to refer to the “Lafayette College Student Working Farm and Community Garden” (Ingrao et al., 2015). The farm is a sustainability initiative at Lafayette College with the mission of integrating curriculum and sustainable food and agriculture. The farm, located 3 miles outside of campus, grows produce for the dining halls, community markets, and distribution boxes, all while serving as a laboratory for collaborative student-faculty education and research.
The farm was started in 2009 by student Jenn Bell, with the help of Professor Arthur Kney, who received a grant from the Clinton Global Initiative University Conference known as the CGI-U Outstanding Commitment Award. This grant-funded the initial construction of the farm’s first basic infrastructure and the farm was managed by Bell until 2012 when the College hired a Garden Manager with additional grant money (Ingrao et al., 2015). This position was held by Sarah Edmonds until March 2018, when Lisa Miskelly was hired as the new farm manager (Miskelly, 2018). Miskelly continues to manage the farm today and is our main point of contact in learning about LaFarm’s operations and needs. LaFarm has an advisory board comprised of multiple Lafayette faculty including Professor Cohen, Professor Brandes, Professor Germanoski, and Professor Lawrence (Meet the Farmers and LaFarm Advisory Board · LaFarm · Lafayette College, n.d.).
Before discussing the problem at hand for this year’s LaFarm capstone project, it is important to discuss the goals and findings of the multiple past projects focused on LaFarm. A number of past EGRS 451 capstone groups have focused on the future of LaFarm. These capstone projects have focused on specific infrastructure elements that would improve the operations and production capacity of LaFarm.
In 2015, a capstone group analyzed three different greenhouse options for installation at LaFarm with the idea that the farm had planned to expand in the coming years–which they did. A greenhouse, they asserted, would allow for interdisciplinary research on agriculture from disciplines such as the sciences, economics, and anthropology. It would also drive more education on sustainable vegetable production in USDA Zone 6, which would help local producers. The three models of greenhouses they analyzed were a hoop house, a gothic greenhouse, and an A-frame greenhouse. Ultimately, they recommended Lafayette construct a hoop house within the next year, then simultaneously fundraise and research on how to power a greenhouse. They recommended Lafayette ultimately install a gothic greenhouse (Ingrao et al., 2015). As usual, the timeline to complete this has taken longer than recommended, as a hoop house was just recently constructed on the farm. A second group from 2015 investigated adding a solar-powered vegetable wash station to the farm (Walsh et al., 2015). As an outcome, a team of students working with Professor Brandes installed a wash station a few years ago. Recently, the wash station was dismantled, as Lisa claims the water pressure was not high enough for proper functionality (L. Miskelly, personal communication, September 25, 2020). Parts of this system remain on-site including filters and a water holding tank, and the wash station has been partially relocated to next to LaFarm’s garage space.
In 2016, a capstone group built upon the 2015 greenhouse project by researching an appropriate power source to power the desired gothic greenhouse in a carbon-neutral off-the-grid manner. They suggested either solar panels or a small wind turbine to power a geothermal heating system while being off-grid. Ultimately, they decided the greenhouse would have to be on-grid because complete renewable energy would be too unreliable and expensive at the time. They recommended an investigation into greenhouse water supply be a next step (Coldren et al., 2016).
The LaFarm-focused capstone project in 2017 further analyzed adding a greenhouse structure to the farm. Rented greenhouse space in Emmaus, PA (45 minutes from campus) was causing inefficiencies, as the farm manager at the time, Sarah Edmonds, made the 90 minute round trip at least 3 times a week from February to April to tend to seedlings. Our communications with Lisa Miskelly yielded similar qualms, as she currently splits time between campus greenhouses and her home farm’s greenhouse, which is cumbersome. The prior capstone reports laid a good groundwork for the 2017 project, but they noted none were able to secure funding in the past. This capstone group was able to recommend a specific greenhouse to be installed from a local supplier (Gibbons et al., 2017)
The capstone group working on LaFarm in 2018 worked to solve the issue of LaFarm having no cold storage, which led to environmental and harvesting inefficiency. The harvested produce had to be packaged and sent to its final destination immediately after coming out of the field. The group suggested installing a cold storage space on-site in the form of a root cellar. They also aimed to add a classroom space on-site, enhancing the link with the College. They proposed the classroom would sit on the plateaued area above the hill, semi-adjacent to the proposed root cellar. They believe their cost analysis could serve as a baseline to future groups and provided significant geotechnical data requiring little additional work (McKee et al., 2018).
Finally, the 2019 LaFarm capstone group built on all prior greenhouse-focused projects to again evaluate the addition of a carbon-neutral greenhouse from technical, political, social, and economic contexts. They made progress in determining the viability of a LaFarm greenhouse but suggested more research be done into partnerships with local institutions that could include funding and academic department interest in building systems for the greenhouse (Craven et al., 2019).
Besides the engineering studies capstone projects aforementioned, the environmental studies capstone class in 2018 conducted an extensive report on the future of LaFarm. They had three main areas of focus: engagement, academics, and operations. The engagement team worked on materials that would help increase student engagement with LaFarm and educate students about the farm. The academic team researched peer institutions and proposed many new courses and academic event offerings that would provide more ways for LaFarm to be involved in students’ academic lives on campus. The operations team’s work resembles most closely the goals of our LaFarm capstone project, as it looks at LaFarm’s current operational faults and needs and proposed changes. They worked with former farm manager Sarah Edmonds, who said the most critical needs at the time were a greenhouse, 4 season irrigation, and a cooler. As of now, the farm has added a hoop house, irrigation, and two walk-in coolers, which shows great progress. However, a greenhouse on the property remains necessary today. Modeled off of Yale University’s campus farm, a gazebo and pizza oven were recommended as additions at the farm to attempt to facilitate engagement with the Lafayette community (Drago et al., 2017). This report provides insight into past needs and how they have been addressed, and our report will serve similarly as a set of recommendations based on current farm needs.
LaFarm has grown since its conception in 2009 to something much larger and more complex than originally built. It has grown by 2 acres since its start and in 2017, $35,000 of Capital improvements were made, including a “10-foot 2-year deer and critter control fence” (Miskelly, 2018). In 2018, more investments were made in the farm’s irrigation system and equipment inventory. The latest Annual Report from 2018 states the farm grew and distributed 6,361 pounds of produce (Miskelly, 2018).
Unfortunately, the current supply chain of LaFarm is inefficient due to the geographically spread out nature of its infrastructure, vehicle restrictions, and limited storage space. Unlike other past capstone projects that have focused on very specific features to be considered for LaFarm, we will discuss a variety of moving parts and changes to be made to help LaFarm’s supply chain operate more efficiently and allow for more integration between students, the College, and LaFarm.
Our Project
LaFarm is operating at a much higher capacity than it was when the majority of its infrastructure and processes were established. Much of the infrastructure is serving a function far different than what it was originally intended to serve, as parts of the infrastructure have been modified, relocated, and disassembled to try and compensate for the significant growth LaFarm has experienced. Further, The geographically spread out nature of LaFarm further exacerbates these issues with supply chain process difficulties. There are natural geographic barriers that make extending LaFarm difficult. A hill lies between the farming fields and the packaging and storage area. This 20-foot slope lies 10 feet outside of the north barrier of LaFarm. When transporting hundreds of pounds of produce this is a significant feature.
In order for the farm to operate efficiently, a reorganization of what tasks are occurring in what spaces and additions to the infrastructure are necessary. LaFarm is currently lacking a greenhouse and outdoor classroom space for curricular engagement. LaFarm is also lacking a farm vehicle that student interns and volunteers are able to drive, as Lafayette College policy states that students are not allowed to drive the existing 15 passenger van. This means only the LaFarm manager can transport harvested produce between the fields and the storage area, deliver community produce, and transport students between campus and LaFarm. Improvements to these areas, and more, will significantly benefit the efficiency of the supply chain.
Following a community-centric critical analysis of the current function of each infrastructure piece and conversations with LaFarm staff and supporters, this final report outlines a set of recommendations to improve the supply chain and operations of the space through reorganization and expanding infrastructure. As stated in the foundational text for the EGRS 451 course, it will be crucial to keep the community at the center of our design proposal. In order for projects “to be sustainable in the long run and to increase the self-determination of the communities they are intended to serve,” projects must revolve around the community first and foremost (Lucena et al., 2010). As our capstone team are not experts in the current organization and needs of LaFarm, we have prioritized gathering continuous insight from those who are. To arrive at our recommendations we followed an iterative process in which we analyzed the problem, brainstormed potential solutions, and then gathered feedback on ways to improve the design.
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly highlighted the existing LaFarm inefficiencies, shaped the direction of our project, and resulted in budget and implementation limitations. When students were sent home in March of 2020, LaFarm was forced to function with significantly fewer volunteers than a typical year. While LaFarm still had student interns during the summer and fall months, many of the large student groups that typically volunteer were unable to, as most students completed virtual classes from their home residences. Additionally, the lack of students on campus has decreased Bon Appetit’s demand for fresh produce in the dining halls. LaFarm adapted to this by growing its weekly produce distribution box program. Further, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the College significantly restricted its spending. This impacts the next steps for many of our recommendations as the Development Office is not proceeding with improvement projects until the College is on stable financial footing.
The current supply chain of LaFarm has multiple inefficiencies in the transporting, washing, packaging, and distribution of LaFarm produce. This report critically analyzes where and how food moves from field to consumer by examining LaFarm’s social context and existing conditions, then concludes with a set of recommendations and next steps to optimize the efficiency of LaFarm.