The UCSD Sustainable Food Project
UCSD Sustainable Food Project is a student group working in collaboration with San Diego Roots to operate a campus farm and increase sourcing of local and organically produced food on campus. Through education, research, and activities, UCSDSFP fosters a sense of interconnectedness between students and the food system so they can make more informed daily food choices.
For the latest news, click here to go to the UCSD SFP website.
Four Key Project/Focuses
Farm to Fork
Assessing student interest in the sourcing of local and organic foods and promoting direct relationships between the growers and the consumers.
Field Trip Series
Connecting students with San Diego’s Agricultural community by creating field trips to the farms of San Diego inviting the relationship between the growers and consumers to grow. Our trips are a full-day of learning, growing, and eating. We go on a tour of their farm, demonstrations, discussions/lectures about organic farming, and some quality hands-on experience. The best way to know where your food comes from is to dig in!
Agri-CULTURE
Sowing the seeds for a more intimate campus food community with events directed towards the education and hands on interaction involved in the sustainability effort. These events include workshops, film screenings, open discussion, and lectures.
Urban Farm Initiative
The vision of the UCSD URBAN FARM is to establish a vibrant experiential learning center on the UCSD campus that encourages and educates sustainable living through the growing of organic food. The concept of an “urban farm” provides a great resource for this multi-disciplinary approach. On 8,800 square feet in Pepper Canyon, we will be able to grow a variety of organic seasonal crops allowing the UCSD community to learn how to grow rich organic food in urban and suburban landscapes.
Past Events:
UCSD's Urban Farm Celebration: The Sustainable Food Project held the Grand Opening of the Urban Farm on June 5, 2009 starting at 2pm and continuing until the fun stopped (5pm). There was live music, free food, and a whole lot of people psyched to be done with school and even excited to have an Urban Farm coming to campus!
Free Screening of "The Power of Community How Cuba Survived Peak Oil": As part of our Agri-CULTURE project on May 29, 2009 in the Price Center of the UCSD campus we showed the movie "The Power of Community How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" for free, followed by a discussion of how the movie relates to the movements on campus. It was a great first screening and will lead to many more such events.
Think Global, Eat Local: At the 1st annual Think Global, Eat Local event on April 21, 2009 at The Great Hall on the UCSD campus, hosted by the Sustainable Food Project @ UCSD, several local farmers participated in dynamic roundtable sessions with the students and taste their fresh local fare in its purest form. Featured Farmers Include: Tierra Miguel, La Milpa Organica, Southern Sun Farm, & San Pasqual Academy. In addition to the roundtables, the event featured an exciting keynote speech by Slow Food San Diego Chair Scott Murray, followed by a presentation on campus food sustainability by UCSD's very own director of Dining, Steve Casad. Click here for slideshow images.
Farm Trips:
City College Urban Farm – Fall 2008 Click here for slideshow images
La Milpa Organica – Winter 2009
Fenton Family Farms – Winter 2009
Tierra Miguel Farm – Spring 2009
Support
If you are interested and want to support The Sustainable Food Project or the UCSD Urban Farm Initiative, please email so your voice is heard and helps move these very worthy and necessary causes.