Internal Stakeholders: 

 

LaFarm’s greenhouse has many interested stakeholders, and the political context the project falls within is paramount to the successful adoption of any technologies or plans. Lafayette College is the major stakeholder in the greenhouse project, as funding and approval for any construction projects are required from them. This section will analyze the political structures within and involving the community and administration of Lafayette College.

Lafayette College’s stake in the success of the carbon-neutral greenhouse project is primarily based upon their sustainability initiatives, specifically their goal for carbon neutrality by 2035 (Climate Action Plan: Executive Summary, 2019). A large part of Lafayette College’s desirability to future students stems from their placement at the forefront of academic development. Lafayette College has expressed a desire to be on the forefront of the sustainability movement. This includes movements detailed in the social section above—such as the college farm and local food movements.  

Lafayette College is the overarching decision-making body, but more specifically, within its structure, decision makers to be considered are Josh Parr and the faculty advisors of LaFarm, the treasurer, and the Office of Sustainability. 

Josh Parr and the faculty advisors of LaFarm have decision-making power over the intended location of the project. Generally, they know the requirements and intentions of the existing greenhouse, constraints in space or environment, and approve any modifications to existing structures on LaFarm. They are knowledgeable about the details of LaFarm and the realities of the existing greenhouse and are committed to sustainability and development at LaFarm. 

Josh Parr handles the day-to-day management of the surrounding LaFarm and will be overseeing the practical usage of the greenhouse once it becomes fully operational. His input on the necessary functions and total usage of the greenhouse informs the design criteria that the project team needed to navigate. Parr is also an important resource for specifications about the existing structure and surrounding areas and is the primary contact for any access to the existing structure.

The faculty advisors of LaFarm, represented primarily by Professor Cohen, present a more long-term scope of LaFarm sustainability goals. The advisory board has a larger focus on the cause of carbon neutrality in the greenhouse and LaFarm as a whole, as it falls in line with the long term goals of LaFarm. The existing solution of propane energy sourcing is not popular in this group, which allows for allyship with the project team. Professor Cohen and the faculty advisors also have valuable insight into many social and political dynamics within the project. With the variety of specialties within the board spanning Environmental Engineering to Geology (Meet the Farmers and LaFarm Advisory Board · LaFarm · Lafayette College, n.d.), they had the capabilities to assist in a large breadth of technological contexts. 

There are many administrative offices that have control over the outcome of projects occurring on Lafayette’s campus. The project team did not interact with all the political machinations that surround a project with a need for this level of funding within a private nonprofit university. The Office of Sustainability was the primary contact in the political navigation of this project. This office has expert knowledge on the processes required to acquire adequate funding for the greenhouse project—as well as the connections to start the acquisition processes. Sustainability is the primary objective of this remodel project, so liaising to fulfill their sustainability initiatives will be paramount in achieving success by the major stakeholders—Lafayette College as an institution—assumed metrics. It will also be critical to follow any directives given by the Office of Sustainability, as they are generally in charge of budget distributions. The Office of Sustainability will also potentially have connections through past projects—e.g. solar panels on Kirby—that may assist in the feasibility of the project—a prior relationship with reputable suppliers/contractors which could ease acquisition. 

 

External Stakeholders:

 

Though the greenhouse is primarily for the members of the Lafayette community, primarily the students, it would be remiss to not analyze the potential stakeholders outside of the Lafayette community. The project, while not directly for these people, can still have profound effects and be profoundly affected by these external stakeholders through various means. To properly understand the decisions made within the solution, all relevant perspectives must be considered. 

 A major stakeholder for this project, which acts as a deciding factor towards design feasibility, is the local government of Fork’s Township. Through paperwork such as permitting and building codes, the government of Fork’s Township could impact feasibility (through permit refusal) or budget (through unknown paperwork fees). As stated in previous sections, our project team would not interface directly with this stakeholder—instead leaving this connection to be handled by Lafayette College at the time of project construction. The office of sustainability is best suited to interfacing with the local government. 

The communities of Easton and Fork’s Township must also be taken into consideration as active stakeholders in this project. The goals of this greenhouse do extend beyond focusing on the Lafayette community—the residents of the surrounding area are also included within the farm’s longer-term goals. In 2018, 40% of crops harvested at LaFarm were used in a joint community service program called Vegetables in Communities (ViC), an initiative in tandem with other local farms to provide fresh produce to the surrounding community. Through Vegetables in Communities, LaFarm has been providing fresh vegetables to local food banks and affecting over 700 community members from the greater Easton area (Goldberg et al., n.d.). Therefore, it is important to remember that the communities surrounding Lafayette College are also engaged in the goals and purposes surrounding the greenhouse designs, however tangentially and passively it may be. 

In addition to the community engagement opportunities that make the local communities stakeholders, one of the intended purposes of the greenhouse also makes their input relevant. The definition of a greenhouse as a season extender and its purpose of allowing the earlier starting of seeds make a greenhouse an important public resource for any community member who wishes to get an early start to their gardening or farming seasonal goals. The LaFarm advisory board intends for the community to have access to the greenhouse as a resource to extend their own farming season. As other local farms—such as the Easton Urban Farm—have not yet developed their own greenhouse and would benefit greatly from access to LaFarm’s greenhouse. 

The Easton Urban Farm and Greater Easton Development Partnership are also stakeholders, due to their involvement in Vegetables in Communities and their potential use of the greenhouse. While, similar to the non-Lafayette communities, they will not be active or vocal stakeholder, they share power over a large and important community initiative that LaFarm values, as well as potentially strongly benefitting from the functional aspects of the greenhouse. 

 

Political Advantage:

 

The major advantage this project has within the political system within Lafayette College is through promises made by the office of sustainability—i.e the carbon neutrality pledge. Stakeholders, such as the office of sustainability, have publicly announced institution-wide goals which should be aligned with the goals outlined in the introduction of this project. Lafayette College has openly aligned their reputation with the issue of carbon neutrality and sustainability. It is advantageous to the project that retrofitting the greenhouse would allow for increased efforts towards carbon neutrality.

Another advantage that our project has when navigating the Lafayette College political sphere is the increasing prevalence of movements such as the above mentioned local food movement, student farm movement, and sustainability movements. The visibility that these movements bring to the issues that a carbon neutral greenhouse would combat to the center of public awareness, and they have resulted in an uptick in educational farms and sustainability technology. This increase in student farms and sustainability on University campuses places Lafayette College in a race to remain on the cutting edge of liberal arts innovation. This greenhouse project would be beneficial in the school’s mission to remain a leader in both the student farming movement and sustainability. 

 

Political Setbacks:

 

A major setback for our project within the political sphere is the monetary cost that has already been used in the construction of the greenhouse. With the budget that went into the construction of a state-of-the-art greenhouse at LaFarm, the acquisition of further funding may be difficult.

 

Financial Policy:

 

The financial and economic aspects of this project are intrinsically intertwined with the political aspects of the greenhouse project. Within the context of a private non-profit university, such as Lafayette College, much of the political structure is based around the acquisition and proper distribution of donations. The policy and politics surrounding non-profit identity limits acquisition and spending opportunities, which places different financial restrictions on the project. The funding of the greenhouse project is one of the most difficult aspects of hindrance to the realization of the greenhouse project. There are multiple avenues that Lafayette College can pursue in the acquisition of money for projects such as this, in this section we will discuss a few different options.

The main option to be discussed is to find a donor willing to fund this project through Lafayette’s extensive alumni network. This is one of the most viable and realistic options available to the project. This is how most projects on Lafayette College’s campus are approached. It is how the initial greenhouse design was funded. This would entail the office of sustainability identifying interested donors and communicating the mission and purpose of this project to ‘sell’ the renovation. Primarily, the project team will have no direct involvement with the potential donors but will be responsible for all supplementary documentation needed to communicate to donors the goals, needs and purposes of this project. It also affects the level of control the project team will have over the final design.

To read about the technical context of this work, please follow the link here.