Presentation for the 2019 Massachusetts Sustainable Communities and Campuses Conference on March 29, 2019 in Cambridge, MA

1. Bridget Lawrence-Meigs
Farm Manager & Instructor
March 29, 2019
The Farm at Stonehill:
Growing Community
Around Fresh Produce

2. The Farm at Stonehill:
Established in 2011
The Farm’s Mission:
The Farm at Stonehill is an
initiative of the May School of Arts
& Sciences and seeks to live out
the college’s mission by:
(1) making available fresh,
nutritious, locally grown food
to Brockton-area food
pantries and meal providers
to address food desert
conditions, and
(2) enriching Stonehill faculty
and student academic and
service endeavors by
educating and actively
engaging them in local and
global food justice issues. The Farm at Stonehill Video

3. Cultivating a Just &
Equitable Food System

4. 1. A Living Classroom: up to 18 different classes (ex. Food
Justice Learning Community), host school and community
groups, community garden trainings
2. A Community Partner: Growing and distributing
approximately 10,000 - 12,000 pounds of produce with
students each season.
3. Inspiring student activism and food systems change:
Working to increase more local, sustainably, fairly-traded and
humanely raised products on campus.
The Many Faces of
The Farm

5. Two of the biggest barriers
to food access are cost and
transportation to markets
or grocery stores selling
fresh, affordable produce.
Donation:
My Brother’s Keeper, The Easton Food
Pantry, The Table at Father Bill’s &
MainSpring, The David Jon Louison Center
of the Old Colony YMCA and Evelyn
House.
Mobile Market:
In partnership with the Brockton
Neighborhood Health Center.
Growing and Distributing:
Community Partnerships

6. • Food Truth: The Real Food
Challenge
• Composting/Food Waste
• Earth Week Events
• Community Engagement
Days
• Campus Food Security
• Reusable To-Go Containers
Inspiring Change:
Student Activism

7. Campus Farmer Network:
Campus Farms & Communities
Summit Goals:
Develop a Campus Farmer Network…
• Exchange best practices and work together to
determine how college farms can play a role in
strengthening our food systems, environmentally,
socially, and politically.
• Learn about and address food justice, food security, the
Real Food movement, sustainability, wellness, research,
and academic excellence.
• Learn about the different ways to cultivate successful
living classrooms and help fuel social change.
Campus Farmer Summit
Feb 10, 2018
133 participants
30+ institutions
Campus farmers,
students, Faculty,
Service Corps
participants, community
members, local non-
profits, etc.

8. • Partnered with Farm to Institution New England (FINE) for the summit.
• Spring 2018: Campus Farms Working Group – the fourth working
group of FINE’s Farm & Sea to Campus Network.
• The FSC Network is a community of higher education and food
systems stakeholders who connect, share and collaborate to
develop transparent regional supply chains and educate campus
communities about regional food systems.
• FINE is a six-state network of nonprofit, public and private entities
working together together to transform our food system by increasing
the amount of good, local food served in our region’s schools, hospitals,
colleges and other institutions.
• FINE’s Mission: To mobilize the power of New England institutions to
transform our food system.
FINE: Farm to Institution
New England
Register today for
the FINE Summit!
Next
Campus
Farmer
Summit:
February
2020 at
Stonehill
College!

9. “Just Grow Vegetables”…
...now so much more!
Bridget Lawrence-Meigs, bmeigs@stonehill.edu