On-campus Farm Stand Helps Fund Group’s Push for Sustainability

A WSU selects an organically grown tomato at farm stand run by the WSU Sustainability Club and Organic Farm. Download high-resolution image. Photo by Brian Clark/Marketing, News, and Educational Communications.

Pullman, Wash. — The Washington State University Sustainability Club, in partnership with WSU’s Organic Farm, is selling fresh, organically grown produce at a farm stand on the campus of Washington State University. The farm stand is open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Wednesday through November 14 on the Terrell Mall across from Holland Library.

A wide variety of fruits and vegetables, including potatoes, salad greens, tomatoes, strawberries, tomatoes, herbs and, from the Tukey Orchard, peaches are being offered. The organic farm produces about 60 different crops.

The farmers’ mini-market is a fund raising effort to benefit both the WSU Sustainability Club and the WSU Organic Farm.

“The club’s main goal is to get the university to implement a sustainability office. There’re a lot of different things going on at the university in sustainability, and there’s a lot of support for sustainability, but there’s no coordination or funding through a central office.”Club officer Steve Bramwell, a graduate student in soil science, said that the “Sustainability Club is an advocacy club focused on promoting sustainability at the university and in the larger Pullman community. We do that through activities, outreach, and fundraising for the organic farm.

Bramwell defines sustainability as activity “that provides an income and a good quality of life without compromising future peoples and ecosystems.”

In terms of sustainable activity on campus, Bramwell cited WSU Dining Services, which uses locally and sustainably grown ingredients in the food it serves, the recycling efforts of both Housing Services and the WSU Recycling Center, among others. Club members and their supporters see sustainable development at the university and in the community as involving much more than agriculture and food, as sustainability involves the way grounds are maintained, buildings are lighted, and funds are invested.

Bramwell said the club is circulating a petition, already signed by hundreds of students, which would urge WSU President Elson S. Floyd to establish an office of sustainability.

The club’s membership includes students studying sociology, crop and soil sciences, horticulture, anthropology, English, communications and other majors.

Washington State University is the home of the nation’s first undergraduate major in organic agriculture. The WSU Organic Farm is co-located with the Tukey Orchard just east of campus. Both the farm and the orchard are used to teach students horticultural principles and to provide them with hands-on experience.