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While stopping to give a few ear scratches to Clyde , the farm ’ s canine horticulture assistant , Meyer said the direction and innovation on the college farm has always been in student ’ s hands .
When she was student at Berea College , Meyer and her fellow farm workers campaigned heavily to allow produce grown by them to be used in the campus ’ dining rooms .
That tradition has continued as every new crop of students bring their own ideas and goals to the farm . “ One of the big things recently that was studentled was the growth of succulents . During the pandemic , the students suggested we start growing more succulents as they were a popular item with their peers and the community . It was therapeutic in a way and something college students could take back to their dorms . A lot of community members were interested as well and the students held plant sales for them ,” Oles explained .
Oles also noted the numerous changes Berea College Farm has undergone
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throughout its 150 years . Each generation of college farmers have navigated the limitations of the land and the fluctuations of the market . What makes the college farm unique is that each challenge , and sometimes failure , becomes |
yet another opportunity to learn .
“ The farm itself grows and shifts with the students ,” Oles remarked . “ We used to have sheep here long ago , until that became unsustainable for the college and the region . We try very hard to make sure students are
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learning valuable skills that will be applicable to today ’ s world and their future .”
Students learn to adapt the farm to adversity , experiment with new techniques , and in doing so , take that knowledge with them out into the region .
In the late 1990s , when students became concerned about industrialscale farming , the farm transitioned to raising certified organic crops . Students also led the transition from feedlotfinishing of cattle to grass finishing and ended the
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practice of hog confinement .
While Whitehead said great satisfaction can be found in growing , nurturing , and harvesting produce and plants from seed — the skills she learns while working on the farm coincides well with what she is learning in her traditional classroom setting .
“ A lot of times , I will have already learned and done on the farm what I ’ m being taught in the classroom . Or , I ’ ll take what I learn in the classroom and apply it here ,” Whitehead said .
Meyer said the flow between indoor and outdoor learning spaces creates a nice transition for students — especially agriculture majors .
“ It is a laboratory . The students learn about something in the classroom and then have the opportunity to do the actual physical labor and it solidifies it for them ,” Meyer said . “ They learn what it really takes to put the ideas into action and to problem solve when things go wrong .”
It ’ s not just agriculture majors that benefit from time spent among the crops and livestock .
Xavier Khera , a junior
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