Student Farmers elevate Student Farming in Nevada

GREENandSAVE Staff

Posted on Tuesday 19th July 2022
Student Farming

Our GREENandSAVE Staff is pleased to inform our members and readers about organizations that are helping to promote sustainability. If you would like us to profile your organization please Contact Us.

Student Farmers is actively looking to recruit a student ambassador in Nevada, as well as farm mentors in Nevada that can help guide students. Overall, student farming is a great way to reduce the distance from farm to table and increase health for students as well as their parents.

Here is an overview on Student Farmers 

Student Farmers is a growing group of students who are committed to in-home and in-school sustainable farming as a means to promote physical fitness and environmental stewardship.

Our Mission: To improve health and nutrition education, combat the challenges of climate change, and support each other in generating some revenue to help pay for college.

Our Vision: To increase knowledge about the advantages of eating more heathy and locally grown vegetables across the range of high school and college age students. We also hope that many of the parents of the students will learn from their children’s engagement in our organization and adopt a diet with less processed foods to reduce the growing cost of healthcare. 

Here is an example of an agriculture education program in Nevada:

University of Nevada, Reno Agricultural Programs Provide Meat, Produce to Students Experiencing Food Insecurity

The University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) recently announced that locally sourced beef and produce will be available at its on-campus food pantry, Pack Provisions, for students and other campus members experiencing food insecurity. The food will be supplied by Wolf Pack Meats and the Desert Farming Initiative, two agricultural programs of the Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station at the UNR College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources. 

Wolf Pack Meats is a U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected meat processing plant that provides students with firsthand experience in meat production, distribution, and packaging. The facility also offers harvesting and processing services to local farmers. Through the new partnership, Pack Provisions will purchase 150 pounds of ground beef per month from Wolf Pack Meats for its pantry.

The Desert Farming Initiative is a commercial farm at UNR that “seeks to advance climate-smart farming and food sovereignty in the region through demonstration, education, research, and outreach,” according to a university news release. While a partnership between the initiative and Pack Provisions has been ongoing for three years, it has recently expanded to support more students.

“The partnership has grown significantly,” stated the initiative’s director, Jill Moe, in the release. “We’ve [gone] from having periodic donations of extra produce to Pack Provisions to now having year-round weekly deliveries of fresh organic fruit and vegetables from the university farm to feed students in need. It’s now truly a model ‘farm-to-food-pantry’ program.”

Accessing healthy and balanced meals is a significant challenge for many college students. In a 2020 university survey, one in four UNR students reported experiencing food insecurity. Pack Provisions received more than 4,000 visits during the 2020-2021 academic year, which was nearly double that of the previous year, according to the news release.

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