To help bring nutritious foods to its community, the Student Research and Education Gardens at New Mexico State University grows and distributes fresh, organic produce for the university’s food assistance program, Aggie Cupboard.
The NMSU College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Student Research and Education Gardens is approximately two acres and is located across from Gerald Thomas Hall. It was initiated in 2011 by Richard Pratt, professor in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences. The main purpose of the garden is to grow pesticide and chemical-free produce.
“Our goal is to support the campus community,” Pratt said. “Our students have an opportunity to learn there are different ways to approach the production of wholesome food. When our campus community picks up fresh food from the Student Research and Education Gardens at Aggie Cupboard, they know they have no concerns about pesticide residues.”
The garden has provided a total of 1,600 pounds of produce to the cupboard. Amanda Nunez, Aggie Cupboard program specialist, said the produce is a great addition to the non-perishable food items the cupboard has available for students.
“The organic produce that comes into the office is something students really look forward to, it is almost like a treat for them,” Nunez said. “Many of the students that enter are international students who are accustomed to cooking with vegetables, so the garden bringing in the produce is a huge asset to helping meet the needs of all our students.”
In 2014, the garden received its organic certification from the Organic Materials Review Institute, which allowed the garden to produce organic certified products.
“The Student Research and Education Gardens serves as a student-centered field laboratory, and it is the only organic certified field at NMSU’s Las Cruces campus,” Pratt said. “It was created partially in response to student requests to have more hands-on learning activities — especially in sustainable and organic production systems.”
Diego Marquez, a sophomore at NMSU studying plant and environmental sciences, has been the student intern at the garden for a year. He manages the field daily by assisting with numerous tasks.
“There is a lot more manual labor since we don’t rely on any chemicals or pesticides,” Marquez said. “I help with controlling the weeds, harvesting, irrigating and delivering the crops to the Aggie Cupboard. My favorite thing about working here is being able to provide nutritious organic food for the community.”
There are multitude of crops grown at the garden, including squash and pumpkins. Research is also being conducted in an attempt to improve the soil health.
“We are doing research to see how the alfalfa can improve the soil quality, so we are growing it for about three years,” he said. “We are letting it grow and then we will mow it and let it decompose into the soil to add nutrients back into the soil, then we will be testing it to see how the quality improves over the three years.”
The garden reserves areas for students to conduct research and grow different crops.
“Both undergraduate and graduate students research projects are facilitated at the garden,” Pratt said. “Undergraduate research projects have included the production of fresh market greens, heat-tolerant tomato varieties and different varieties of okra. Graduate research projects have included cover crops, guar and organic maize breeding. Several classes have examined soil fertility and microbial populations in the field. Cover crop and weed management experiments have also been conducted as part of the crop rotation activities.”
Marquez has enjoyed being a part of this initiative and says it is a great opportunity since he aspires to work in agriculture analysis.
“I love it, it is so much fun,” Marquez said. “It is a lot, but it is like a dream job for me and rewarding. It doesn’t really feel like work for me. Besides providing the organic produce, I think it is a great learning experience for students. I feel like I have really learned a lot in my one year of working here, and it has been a great experience for me to do something I love.”
Pratt said his goal was to develop a garden that would positively impact the community with fresh food, but also act as an educating space for research.
“I wanted to provide more opportunities for our students outside of the book-learning that compromises a large part of their education,” Pratt said. “I also felt that it was important to have organic research and instruction opportunities as part of our overall departmental portfolio. It reminds us that we are part of the university family, and we are all here to support each other.”
For more details about the garden, visit https://pes.nmsu.edu/students/gardens.html.
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CUTLINE: Richard Pratt is the coordinator for the New Mexico State University Student Research and Education Gardens that grows organic produce for the Aggie Cupboard and serves as a research site for students. (NMSU Photo by Josh Bachman)
CUTLINE: Diego Marquez, student intern for the New Mexico State University Student Research and Education Gardens, manages the organic produce grown at the garden. (NMSU Photo by Josh Bachman)