ABOUT THE STUDENT FARM

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The OSU Organic Growers Club is an all volunteer student run club that has been around since 2000. The heart of the project is centered around the student student farm located in Corvallis, OR just east of the Willamette River on a River bottom silt loam. On this ~2 acre parcel, the club grows dozens of varieties of vegetables and fruit crops. 

 

The club was started with the idea that agriculture students should get some hands on experience in planting, growing, and harvesting plants and should reap the rewards of those efforts. The mission of the club is to ?provide students with the opportunity to gain practical experience growing and marketing plants.  It is located off of highway 34 just outside of Corvallis. The OSU CSS owned land spans 2.5 acres, with about an acre of that in production. The whole farm runs entirely on a drip irrigation system and there are 35 beds about 100 in length, producing many different fruits and vegetables including legumes like peas and beans, brassicas like broccoli and cabbage, heavy feeders like corn and pumpkins, light feeders like carrots and lettuce, solanaceous like tomatoes and peppers, and alliums like onions and garlic. These different groupings of food are rotated on a seven-year schedule, with about 5-8 beds producing a year. The cover crop is used to restore the balance, rest the system, reestablish the beds, control weeds, increase fertility, and incorporate organic matter. They rotate this system every year in the different beds, providing a lot of production and a lot of crops yearly. Harvested crops are sold at the OSU Farmer?s Market and are also donated to local Food Pantries. The continuous time and effort put into the crops by student volunteers is the driving force of the operation, and continues to be a beneficial part of the community.