Nestled inside two cylindrical pods, nearly 300 plants including fresh herbs and a variety of produce are ready to serve a noble purpose on campus.
Marquette recently purchased two hydroponic farms from Fork Farms, an agricultural technology company based in Green Bay, to help students learn about indoor gardening while creating direct access to fresh food.
With one in five undergraduates facing food insecurity, Flex Farms are helping combat the problem in partnership with the Marquette Backpack Program, an on-campus student food pantry.
Christine Little, manager of campus food recovery and assistance, says the hydroponic farms are an easy way for students to get healthy food at no cost.
“We have been able to start growing our own lettuce and basil, which helps provide fresh produce for the Backpack Program,” Little says. “We typically get our produce from Feeding America, and because of the short shelf life, sometimes it goes bad before the end of the week. Having a way to grow our own produce helps us stretch out the shelf life so we can provide better quality vegetables for our students.”
Nourishing mind and body
Dr. Nathan Lemoine, assistant professor of biological sciences in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, says the Flex Farms are currently housed in the Biological Sciences Department and the Neighborhood Kitchen in Mashuda Hall.
“The location of the Flex Farm has invited many questions,” Lemoine says. “When tending to the plants every week, I would have at least one person stop to ask questions about how hydroponics works, admire the plants or inquire about the yield of produce we had harvested.”
The crops are grown in a controlled climate year-round; harvests occur about once a month. In March, the hydroponic systems had their first yield of lettuce and radishes.
“The radishes grew much larger than we would have expected,” Lemoine says. “We were very happy with the turnout and were able to donate the produce to the Backpack Program.”
Michael Hostad, chief revenue officer at Fork Farms, says the partnership with Marquette helps aid in research and development while growing connections.
“One of our goals is to empower communities to grow fresh food utilizing our technology, so we’re always working with our partners to figure out the best way to do that,” Hostad says. “We can lean into strong, trusted relationships, like ours with Marquette, to understand what sort of impact we can create together.”
The cooperation between Fork Farms and Marquette not only helps create food security on campus, but it can also open doors for students in the future.
“We’re meeting so many incredible, passionate and brilliant Marquette students,” Hostad says. “We’re always growing at Fork Farms, so if we can create job opportunities in the process of growing food for the Backpack Program and in research projects through the Biology Department, we love that aspect of the partnership as well.”
