Urban agriculture is defined by the USDA as an agricultural system that includes the cultivating, processing, and distributing of agricultural products in urban and suburban settings. Union college is located in the middle of a food desert. Therefore, providing food, the skills to grow food, and tips on creating a community form of urban farming for those that live on or off campus would be largely beneficial. As it would be very challenging to start an urban farm in Schenectady, I instead opted to fix the campus greenhouse with the Green Fee. In my mission to fix the campus greenhouse, I have learned much about team building, bureaucracy, patience, and leadership. Over the past year of working on this project, I have overcome many hurdles dealing with the bureaucracy, but the largest was having confidence in my effort to keep the project moving forward. I have also seen what it takes to create a supportive network for the project that involves networking and appealing to other student groups with vested interests. Sharing this knowledge with others is extremely important to not only support the current movement on campus but also to create more urban farms in different settings. Lastly, I will showcase my hopes for the greenhouse including the plants, mushrooms, and irrigation systems that will be used within its walls. I will also show the hopes and progress of working with other clubs such as Engineers for a Sustainable World.
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