Home News

Join nearly 1,000 students, staff, faculty, and campus partners across UC-CSU-CCC and Private Colleges at UC Santa Barbara June 23rd through 26th for a statewide conference on sustainability efforts in higher education.

On Sunday, June 23rd the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) will partner with the Real Food Challenge for the annual “Field to Fork” pre-conference workshop. Registration for both is online at the conference website. Click here for the pre-conference flier.

Take a free, guided tour of one of Santa Cruz’s most beautiful locations—the 30-acre organic farm at UC Santa

Cruz. Guided tours are offered the first Sunday of the month from 2-3:30 pm and meet at the Louise Cain Gatehouse on the UCSC Farm. The first guided tour will take place on Sunday, June 2.

Founded in 1971, the UCSC Farm offers thriving examples of organic farming and gardening practices as well as hosting education programs and research to improve organic farming techniques. Perched on a meadow near the campus entrance, the farm also offers spectacular views of the Monterey Bay.

Visitors can enjoy touring the organically managed greenhouses, hand-worked garden beds, orchards, row crop fields, and children’s garden, while learning about the history of the site and the basic concepts of organic farming and gardening.

The UCSC Farm is located 1/4 mile up the gravel road above the Blacksmith Shop; free public parking is available in the parking lot at the corner of Coolidge Drive and Carriage House Road, near the main entrance to the UCSC campus. For directions, see http://casfs.ucsc.edu/about/directions-2.

Please note that the UCSC Farm and the 3-acre Alan Chadwick Garden (located on upper campus below Merrill College) are open daily to the public from 8 am – 6 pm. Group tours can be scheduled outside of the monthly free tour times by contacting the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (see contact information, above).

Shares in the CASFS/UCSC Farm’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program are now available! Get wonderful, fresh, organic produce and help support the training of new farmers by becoming a member of our CSA project.

This year we’re offering a new pick-up site on Santa Cruz Westside: you can pick up your weekly share on Tuesdays from 2:30-5:30 pm at the new Westside Farm and Feed, located at 817 Swift Street. You can also pick up your share at the CASFS/UCSC Farm or at the base of campus.

For details see the CSA pledge form, and read more about the project on the CSA web page.

The San Francisco Chronicle featured the UCSC Farm & Garden in its recent regional issue on Santa Cruz. Read the article here.

Join us on Wednesday, June 19th from 8am-3pm at New Brighton Middle School’s Performing Arts Center and Central Kitchen in Capitola, California for the concluding statewide training on strategies and resources to increase fresh fruits and vegetables in schools and nourish the relationships that make that effort possible. This is the culmination of the Centerpiece for a Healthy School Environment workshop series. If you’re interested in connecting with your school food service peers as well as growers, distributors, and farm to school professionals this workshop is both timely and relevant for YOU! Space is limited and travel scholarships are available to help your and/or your food service district staff join us for this training. For travel assistance contact Tim Galarneau at tgalarne@ucsc.edu.

Register for the free workshop here.

UCSC has received a $5 million cornerstone pledge from Alec and Claudia Webster, representing the Helen and Will Webster Foundation, that will help restore the historic Cowell Ranch Hay Barn near the campus’s main entrance. The restored site will serve as a new home for the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS), Life Lab, and other south campus sustainability groups, as well as a welcoming new “front door” to the UCSC Farm and south campus area.

See the related press release for details of the Hay Barn restoration effort and this generous gift.

The Webster Foundation pledge will be awarded over several years, with the majority of the funds targeted for the Hay Barn’s reconstruction and outfitting for multiple uses, including offices, classrooms, and exhibit space.

According to Daniel Press, executive director of CASFS, the restoration effort demonstrates the campus’s commitment to its historic infrastructure and to its long history as a working landscape. “Front doors are important to people,” says Press, “This restored portion of UCSC’s entrance, with its focus on CASFS and other environmental programs, will signal to students and visitors both the campus’s respect for its past and its commitment to a sustainable future.”

The restored Hay Barn will create a focal point for CASFS student, apprenticeship and community activities and a welcoming gateway to campus and the UCSC Farm. The restored site will also make it possible for CASFS to expand its outreach and extension work with local growers, with plans for a new classroom space to accommodate groups of up to 75 for short courses and workshops.

Plans for related improvements to the site include a new produce pick up area for the UCSC Farm’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and visitor parking that will improve access to the farm. A portion of the gift will support CASFS and Environmental Studies programs in the future.

In a related project, a new three-acre field is currently being brought into production and will permanently expand the UCSC Farm’s boundary to the edge of renovated Hay Barn, making the Farm easily visible to students and visitors as they enter campus. Fundraising is now underway to purchase and install the fencing, irrigation, and other infrastructure needed for this expansion of farming activities.

Training for beginning organic farmers on the Central Coast will get a significant boost from a three-year U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to CASFS. The $665,000 grant for “Building a Foundation for New Farmers: Training, Resources, and Networks” was announced by Congressman Sam Farr, D-Carmel, and UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal in a press event held on August 21st at the CASFS/UCSC Farm.

Read more about the grant on the UCSC News site.