WKU launches farm-to-campus initiative: student-farmed food to WKU restaurants

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU campus faculty and students have grown vegetables at the school’s farm for nearly two decades now for educational and research purposes.

Now, WKU announces their all new farm-to-campus initiative, meaning Hilltoppers campus-wide can enjoy the fruits… or rather vegetables, of their peers’ labor.

WKU graduate and returning farmer Charles Judd said, “[Working on the farm] gave me a crazy sense of community because I know that my hands went into creating what people get to admire, whether it’s a flower or what they get to eat.”

Roughly 40 students each semester work out at the farm, and now most all of their food will end up in the campus restaurants.

WKU Chef Gilbert Holts said, “You can’t get any fresher than what we’re going to be getting right now: five miles down the road from where you’re going to school. I can come out sometimes, myself, and see exactly what I’m getting.”

Chef Holt added that this initiative cuts out bumps in the road when it comes to transporting the food. He adds the farm greenhouses will especially cut out pest issues

“From picking to delivering, in about an hour or two hours, we can have [the farm-to-campus food] on the table,” he said.

Better yet, this new program is also a huge win for sustainability

“Remaining food becomes part of the composting program,” explain WKU Director of Sustainability Dr. Leslie North. “So it comes right back out to the farms converted into soil. The soil is incorporated and they start the growing process again. So, it truly is a full circle farm, to campus, to table, and back to farm…And we’re hoping that eventually, [the initiative will] continue to involve more students from across campus.”