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IU Bloomington Campus Farm emphasizes sustainable agriculture

Oct 16, 2018

Description of the following video:

Campus Farm video accessible transcript

[MUSIC]

[Video: Red peppers hang on a vine, an IU staff member picks tomatoes and IU students listen to a lecture at the farm.]

[Indiana University faculty member James Farmer speaks: Campus Farm is a recent initiative undertaken by students, faculty and staff to actually produce, learn about and do research in regard to local, sustainable, organic food.]

[Video: James Farmer appears on screen in front of a barn.]

[Words appear: James Farmer, Co-Director of Campus Farm and Associate Professor at SPEA.]

[James speaks: My name is James Farmer. I am one of the co-directors at the Campus Farm.]

[Video: James Farmer lectures to his class at the Campus Farm.]

[James speaks: I am an associate professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and I teach food systems and sustainable agriculture here at IU.]

[Video: Students listen to lectures and discuss class topics at the Campus Farm.]

[IU senior Elizabeth Newton speaks: This is different from a lot of the classes I’ve taken because it’s not a textbook-based class.]

[Video: Elizabeth appears on screen in front of a barn.]

[Words appear: Elizabeth Newton, Senior at Indiana University.]

[Elizabeth speaks: It’s a hands-on approach to a hands-on activity.]

[Video: Volunteers pull weeds, a purple flower appears, a bee moves inside a yellow flower and an IU staff member picks tomatoes.]

[Elizabeth speaks: The IU Campus Farm is really special to me, because for my career goals, I want to be a sustainable farmer. Having this farm just down the street from my house, just across the street from campus, is a really great learning experience.]

[Video: Leafy greens appear on screen followed by James Farmer in front of a barn.]

[James speaks: About 10 percent of our food so far has gone to Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard in order to integrate what’s being produced here into the emergency food system.]

[Video: James Farmer picks tomatoes.]

[James speaks: Just last week, we harvested approximately 600 pounds of food that went into the dining services.]

[Video: David Tallent, executive chef of the Indiana Memorial Union, appears on screen in a kitchen.]

[Words appear: Dave Tallent, Executive Chef at the Indiana Memorial Union.]

[David speaks: My name is David Tallent. I am the executive chef of the Indiana Memorial Union.]

[Video: Hands chop cilantro, peppers, onions and tomatoes.]

[David speaks: The salad greens that you buy at the grocery store … they are kind of limp and lifeless and haven’t actually been alive for up to two weeks. The salad greens coming from the Campus Farm will be in the field in the morning, they’ll be in our walk-in in the afternoon and they might be on someone’s plate that evening.]

[Video: David appears on screen in a kitchen.]

[David speaks: The cooks just care about it more.]

[Video: Hands chop tomatoes and toss vegetables in a bowl.]

[David speaks: They’re more eager to not waste anything because they saw that guy walking in that was the guy that picked it.]

[Video: James Farmer appears on screen in front of a barn, volunteers carry boxes of food, an IU staff member pushes a wheelbarrow, an aerial shot of the farm appears on screen, James Farmer lectures to students, students listen to a lecture at the farm and crops appear, including a green pepper ripe for the picking.]

[James speaks: So, our future plans for the farm are to integrate more research, more teaching, more outreach opportunities. What we’re interested in doing is looking at some other plots around the city of Bloomington that we can engage in smaller, satellite farms to really engage in this idea of urban agriculture, to be able to teach about urban agriculture and urban food systems, and to create these little oases of food production throughout the city.]

[MUSIC]

[Video: The Indiana University trident appears]

[Words appear: Indiana University]

[Words appear: Fulfilling the Promise]

[Words appear: iu.edu]

A close-up image of peppers growing on the Campus Farm

Last October, ground was broken on the IU Campus Farm thanks to a $50,000 grant from Indiana University Bloomington’s Sustainability Innovation Fund.

A year later, the IU campus community is using the farm to provide food at the Indiana Memorial Union and IU residence halls, give back to the local community, and teach students about sustainable agriculture and food systems.

Check out this video to learn more about how the IU Campus Farm is using its first harvest to serve the university and the local community.

Author

IU Newsroom

Marah Yankey

Deputy director for storytelling

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