Sustainability has become a defining priority for today’s colleges and universities, extending far beyond academic programs and campus operations. Across higher education, institutions are investing in campus farms, community gardens, composting programs, and other sustainability initiatives that allow students to engage directly with environmental stewardship.
Through hands-on experiences, colleges across the Parkhurst footprint are bringing sustainability to life, helping students connect with the food they eat, where it comes from, and the broader sustainability efforts taking place on campus.
Sustainability Beyond the Classroom
Colleges and universities are incorporating more real-life applications where students can experience sustainability firsthand. Through campus farms, gardens, greenhouses, composting initiatives, and other environmental programs, colleges and universities are creating meaningful connections between food, education, and community beyond the traditional classroom setting. Not only do these initiatives enhance the student experience, but they also help support sustainability goals while fostering a deeper understanding of food systems.
Campus Farms and Their Impact
One campus farm that supports sustainable programs within the Parkhurst footprint is LaFarm at Lafayette College. In addition to enhancing the student dining experience, LaFarm also offers students at Lafayette College the opportunity to develop farming skills, engage in hands-on sustainability practices, and explore the benefits of no-till farming. This helps promote environmental stewardship among students while also providing a welcoming introduction to agriculture.
The campus farm also works in connection with Parkhurst Dining Services by providing a composting program. This full circle program begins after produce is harvested from the farm. Our Parkhurst chefs then order the ingredients from the farm and incorporate them into campus dishes. After the students have enjoyed these meals, they can place their food scraps into compost bins rather than disposing of them as trash. LaFarm staff will then collect the scraps and transform them into compost, which is returned to the soil to support future harvests. This continuous partnership between LaFarm and Parkhurst Dining creates a sustainable food loop that reduces the college’s carbon footprint and diverts waste from landfills.
Another campus farm that supports sustainability and campus dining is The Carrden at Allegheny College. This organic garden was designed and established by the Office of Sustainability alongside students and faculty in the Environmental Science & Sustainability department. Shifting focus from vegetable production to diversifying education and engagement opportunities, The Carrden allows the school to offer courses such as Soil to Plate and Small Scale Agriculture, student engagement events such as salsa making workshops, and community collaborations on landscaping.
In the dining hall, The Carrden contributes to the student dining experience in unique and unexpected ways. From a tea station featuring dried herbal teas to a taco/burrito station with salsa made from tomatillos and dried chiles, the school garden focuses on crops they can preserve, store, and utilize throughout the year.
Outside of dining, the garden also contributes to campus grounds management, organic turf management, integrated pest management, tree health and succession planning, and a shift to native landscaping.
Mercyhurst College is also making a sustainable impact with their Grow Tower. Since the Grow Tower is located right in the Grotto Commons dining hall, it reduces the college’s carbon footprint as herbs, spices, and other produce are harvested right on site. In addition to supplying fresh items for the salad bar and other dishes, the tower allows students to experience the physical health and wellness benefits associated with seeing fresh herbs and spices and taking in their aromas every day.
With the ongoing success of the Grow Tower, Mercyhurst College’s sustainability program was inspired to create a campus garden in 2026, which further enhances campus dining and connections across the college campus. Chef Art explained, “It started one day with a conversation between Parkhurst Dining and our campus sustainability program about starting a garden. [Today,] we purchase as much produce from the campus garden as possible, and that produce is used in our dining hall.” He continued to share, “We have a great partnership with our sustainability team here on campus, and this has helped to strengthen all relationships on campus.”
Montgomery Place Orchard and Bard Farm are two working farms that support sustainability initiatives and agricultural education at Bard College.
When Bard College purchased Montgomery Place Orchard in 2016, it did so with a commitment to preserving the historic apple orchard as working farmland. Since then, they have continued the tradition of supporting locally grown food while minimizing the college’s carbon footprint, as their apples travel less than two miles from the orchard to the dining hall. Opportunities for agricultural learning are also offered with Bard Dining through participation in events like New York State’s Big Apple Crunch, a weeklong effort devoted to education around the state’s apple harvest and agricultural traditions.
Bard Farm, the 1.25-acre farm located on the northern edge of Bard’s 1,000-acre Hudson Valley campus, is another working demonstration of Bard College’s commitment to sustainability and climate solutions. Throughout the year, the farm provides sustainably grown produce and fresh ingredients for the dining hall and seasonal farm stand. During the peak tomato season, the farm harvests a surplus of tomatoes, which allows the team to prepare Bard Farm Tomato Sauce from scratch, which can then be served throughout the year.
In addition to supplying fresh and sustainable produce, the farm also supports a nutrient rich compost program that helps reduce food waste, and it provides educational employment opportunities for students.
Enhancing Sustainability with Memorable Experiences
Sustainability initiatives that connect food, education, and community help create more memorable experiences that resonate with current and prospective students. As a result, students not only have an opportunity to enjoy campus-grown ingredients, but they also gain a greater understanding of their connection to local food systems as well as their environmental impact.
By fostering such collaborations between dining services, sustainability departments, student organizations, and campus farm teams, colleges not only support but amplify broader sustainability efforts.
