Released: May 02, 2008

K-State Project Growing Opportunities for Students

MANHATTAN, Kan. – One student’s idea – a small farm where Kansas State University students can learn how to grow fruits and vegetables – is benefitting students and the community.

The idea came from a senior honors project developed by Lani Meyer, K-State horticulture major, said Rhonda Janke, K-State Research and Extension specialist in sustainable cropping systems.

Meyer learned to grow fruits and vegetables in a Wichita, Kan., backyard garden with her father, Dan Meyer, an avid gardener. The gardening experiences helped shape her career interests, but, as a student, Meyer observed that not all classmates had experience growing the crops they were learning about.

Thinking that students could benefit from learning how to grow the crops discussed in the classroom, Meyer, along with Janke, who is an associate professor of horticulture, researched programs at other colleges and universities and found that some had small plots of land – student farms – that provide opportunities for students to grow fruit and vegetable crops.

Meyer’s research served as the basis for her senior project, which suggested that a small farm be made available to K-State students for growing crops.

She graduated at the end of the semester, but Janke followed up on Meyer’s honors project by writing a grant proposal to cover startup costs. The successful proposal covered the cost of a part-time farm manager and two summer interns who will manage the garden started (by students) during the spring semester during summer months.

With Janke beginning to work with students to develop the farm concept, Meyer returned to K-State to earn a master’s degree, and quickly volunteered to serve on the core committee developing the student farm.

The half-acre plot is located near other K-State research plots so that equipment can be shared. It is near a lake, which inspired the name Willow Lake Farm, Meyer said.

While an unusually cool, wet spring has slowed work on the farm, the project is exceeding expectations, she said.

“We expected horticulture majors to volunteer, but are excited that students with other majors (engineering, chemistry, etc), are also wanting to learn more about growing food they eat,” she said.

Joining Meyer and others in the student farm launch is Aaron Yoder, who grew up in Newton, Kan., moved to Ohio with his family, and then returned to K-State to study horticulture.

Yoder’s interests in growing fruits and vegetables and sustainable agriculture were heightened last year by an internship with a northern California vegetable grower.

Parsnips, a white, fleshy edible root and the primary crop at the California farm, have become Yoder’s favorite vegetable, he said. Working with the crop also has solidified his interest in growing fruits and vegetables and in helping others learn more about why sustainable agriculture is important to healthful living and the environment.

Current plans call for the fruits and vegetables grown at Willow Lake Farm to be sold at the Manhattan area farmers’ market this summer, said Yoder, who will serve as an intern at the farm this summer.

Janke also has approached a campus dining center about incorporating the locally-grown produce into student menus and hopes to have an on-campus market this fall, Meyer said.

For Meyer and Yoder, neither of whom grew up on a farm, education and life experiences serve as a foundation for helping others learn about growing healthy foods and sustainable agriculture, said Janke, who serves as advisor for the student project.

More information about Kansas State University’s Willow Lake Farm is available by contacting Janke at 785-532-0409 or rrjanke@ksu.edu.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Nancy Peterson
nancyp@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News