Improved Sustainability in Food Production

Total Budget: $1,571,192.35

November 1st 2015- December 31st 2018
Annabel Pinkney
College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry
Conner Schabel
Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering
Fang Fan
Fisher College of Business
Logan Little
College of Engineering, Department of Material Science & Engineering

Summary
Ohio State University has one of the largest population of students of any college campus in the
United States. Having to feed about thirty thousand people a day means needing a lot of food and
a lot of labor. However, the University currently uses a rather unhealthy menu in most dining
halls. While students are given healthier options, they are mostly processed foods. This proposal
outlines a plan to implement a farm on OSUs west campus that will provide an organic supply
of food and turn food waste into compost for the farm.
Using a 3 year plan, the team dedicated to this project will hire an engineer specializing in
agriculture, gardeners to maintain the farm, and students to help out with the farming and
harvesting seasons. With a budget of $1,571,000, the dining halls at OSU will be given a
healthier and environmentally friendly alternative to the current food selection, while also cutting
down on CO2 emissions by using food waste as compost. In addition to this, a farmers market
will be held during weekends to allow other farming businesses to offer their produce to students
and non-students alike.

Broader Impacts
Our project not only benefits the OSU students and faculties, but also can have a broader impact
on a larger scale. The OSU campus farm provides not only OSU students and faculties but also
Columbus residents with opportunities to gain hands-on experience. The compost program
encourages our community to recycle food wastes in a green way. We hope to serve as a catalyst
for awareness about sustainable food production and wastes recycle.
In the long term, we will establish a stable relationship with local farmers in order to maximize
the consumption of local food and support Columbus economy. We try to reduce our dependence
on processed food and promote organic gardening. Furthermore, The OSU campus farm and
compost program will change the way people think, behave, and achieve, in areas of food
production and environment protection across Columbus.

Introduction
The Ohio State University, Main Campus is an extremely large institution. It is the home of fifty
eight thousand, three hundred twenty two undergraduate, graduate, and professional students

(OSU Statistical Summary 2014). In 2012, Ohio State was the eleventh largest university in the
United States with respect to enrollment, and has grown since then (National Center for
Education Statistics). Each and every one of these students along with numerous faculty, staff
and visitors are able to purchase food provided to them by the university through a meal plan or
other means. This means that the university must be capable of supplying an enormous amount
of food to all of the consumers.
Having to feed upwards of thirty thousand people daily is a huge undertaking, and Ohio State
must regularly purchase a food supply sufficient to meet the needs of the students. The amount of
revenue the university spends on food is approximately one billion dollars annually. This is
twenty percent of the universitys total expenditures per year (OSU Statistical Summary 2014).
There are twenty five dining locations on campus with a wide variety of food options. The
management of dining services and the sheer volume of food the university goes through is quite
impressive. However, there is a catch; the food that Ohio State University supplies their kitchens
is not adequately healthy nor nutritious, it is expensive, there is an immense degree of waste, and
the shipment of goods contributes to the carbon footprint.
The food quality is proven to be less than adequate by simply looking at the nutrition facts. A
blueberry bagel is a common breakfast choice at the university, but it contains 373 calories. 12
ounces of black bean chipotle soup is 442 calories and contains 2350 mg of sodium. A slice of
pizza from Woodys Tavern is 626 calories (OSU Dining Services). Many foods contain
ingredients like sodium erythorbate, disodium guanylate, and thiamine mononitrate.
Additionally, many of the items on the menu that contain vegetables are made from the
dehydrated form of the vegetable and frozen for a long period of time before served, not served
fresh.
According to New York Times Columnist and chef, Mark Bittman, the biggest way you can
make a difference on food systemsand the easiest way to reduce or eliminate the antibiotics
and GMOs you consume, lower your carbon footprint, eat a healthier diet, and avoid or cut back
on sugaris to stop eating processed food, and eat more plants and vegetables than youve been
eating (Schwartz). To solve this problem we plan on doing exactly that. By switching to
unprocessed, homegrown, organic food, the nutritional value of the food served to the students
will increase, and the university will definitely decrease waste and shipping cost. This is proven
by a study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture released in October of 2015 that reported
when [schools] served local food, their kids ate more healthful meals and threw less food in the
trash (Charles).
By implementing a program that will allow the university to grow its own food, Ohio State will
also save money, which may allow the price of meal plans to decrease. The Yale Sustainability
Project conducted at Yale University was a way to serve homegrown, organic produce. It

consisted of an on-campus farming facility that sold its produce to the community in a farmers
market. This market kept approximately 1.3 million dollars in the local economy in 2006 (Yale
University). As Ohio State is a larger institution than Yale, this monetary value could be much
greater for our university, and OSU could potentially save millions of dollars annually.
If The Ohio State University were to build a farming facility and composting program there
would be many positive consequences. The university could potentially save millions of dollars,
the students would have healthier food and more options, and there would be less paper, plastic,
and food waste. The university already has most of the supplies available including a large
amount of acreage, a prestigious agriculture department, and the monetary means to maintain a
sustainable farm. By commencing a project to grow fresh, organic produce on university land to
use in dining services, there would be less university spending on importing processed food,
healthier eating options for students, and a decreased carbon footprint and waste output.
Solution
To solve the problem of big spending on processed food and a large carbon footprint we have
come up with a solution involving a project consisting of three parts. The first section of the
project involves building a farm. First we must parcel off a 5 acre area of land from OSUs west
campus that will be transformed into the farm. This farm will be maintained through hiring a new
set of university staff to grow and produce food. The staff will consist of student assistants and
gardeners who will do the manual labor, and an agricultural engineer and transport manager who
will be in charge of the big-picture aspects of the project. All the produce grown on the farm will
be transported a very short distance from the farm on west campus to the dining facilities on
central campus. The food from this farm will be healthier, fresher, and cheaper than where it is
currently coming from.
This project will additionally implement a composting system that channels all the excess wasted
food away from the trash and onto a compost farm on west campus. The compost produced from
this compost farm will be used as fertilizer on the main farm and the excess can be sold.
Currently, the university is allowing a large amount of organic waste to be shipped into landfills.
When this waste decomposes in landfills it releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. This is
incredibly harmful to the environment. Implementing our own composting system is an easy
solution to address the problem of food waste being dumped into landfills. This part of the
project requires the university to place a large number of composting bins to be placed at
convenient locations around campus. The bins would need to be emptied and the contents
transported to the compost farm regularly, and a compost turner would be used there to mix it
occasionally.
Once these two sections of the project become settled, a cycle would develop. Food grown in the
garden would be shipped to the dining halls, the food not eaten in the dining halls would be

discarded properly into the compost bins, the bins would be emptied into the compost pile, and
eventually the compost would be used to help grow new crops that would end up in the dining
halls again. This cycle allows zero waste of food, and would decrease the pollution emitted by
the university by a very large degree.
The third and final part of this project will reach out to local farmers. The university will buy
their produce, and schedule a series of farmers markets for students to be able to buy their own
food from local sources. This way healthy food can also be made more convenient to students
living off campus. If the university could reach a point where they do not have to buy any
produce from any outside big-business sources, only organic food grown on campus or by
local farmers, they would be supporting the local farmers, local economy, and they would have
healthier food overall for all the students.

This plan gives rise to an additional positive affect; this project would provide students the
opportunity for a hands-on learning experience if they are studying a subject related to
agriculture. Students taking courses in the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental
Science will be able to learn from the on-campus farm because it will be available to instructors
for educational uses. Students studying business or economics could also study the effect of the
university buying local food on the economy in Columbus.
To begin the project, we first need to hire an agricultural engineer. This engineer will design the
overall layout of the farm and instruct the gardeners how to manage and distribute work among
the student workers. This job is very important because it manages all aspects of the farm to
make sure they are in check and operating at maximum efficiency. This includes deciding where
the individual crops will be grown, plant and row spacing, crop rotation year to year, how and
when to fertilize and water the crops, and even pruning if its necessary. While the agricultural
engineer may not be out on the farm working all the time, he is responsible for spearheading the
creation of the farm as well as the majority of the farms success.
The gardeners will then need to be hired to enforce the plans of the agricultural engineer. They
will need to be experienced gardeners who know how to handle and take care of a wide variety
of plants. They will be the backbone of the farm, and will spend most of their time in the fields.
Additionally, they will hire a team of student assistants that they will train and instruct on how to
help maintain the farm through daily tasks. Together, these workers will be the manpower behind
the farms operations. They will plant, water, weed, sow, and any other job to maintain the farm.

Transportation of goods will be facilitated by our transportation manager who will also need to
be hired. His or her job will include the transport of harvested produce from the farm to the
different dining halls. They will also be in charge of moving back bags of discarded food from
the composting bins to the composting facility. The transport manager will have several student
assistants at their disposal as well to help them with this job. Additionally, the transportation
manager will be in charge of contacting the local farmers for supplemental produce and organize
the on-campus farmers markets with them.
The full project, including building the farm, hiring new staff, making relationships with local
businesses, and incorporating healthy food into the dining halls will take approximately one year
to start, and three years to fully integrate.

Timeline
Figure 2: Timeline table
Benefits
Nutritional Benefits
The OSU Campus Farm is one piece of significant and multifaceted effort by The Ohio State
University and the Dining Service to provide students, faculties, and staffs with fresh and healthy
foods. The OSU Campus farm aims to produce the best organic food that is free from pesticides
and other chemicals that have harmful impact on humans health. Simultaneously, we provide
students, faculties, and staffs with accurate nutritional information of the products we produce.
OSU Campus Farm provides foods having more nutrients. Once fruits and vegetables are picked,
their optimal nutritional value such as vitamins C, E, A, and some B, decreases quickly (Bishop,
2010). Also, the exposure to sunlight and air can influence their nutritional value. Because fruits
and vegetables grown at OSU Campus Farm are usually harvested and sold quickly, they are
fresher and have more nutrients, which is beneficial for humans health.
Social Benefits
The OSU Campus Farm supports and provides opportunities for students to enrich their hands-on
experience with farming and agriculture and also earn some pocket money as a farm worker.
Community farming and gardening creates a positive, empowering, social atmosphere, forms a
social network among participants (Okvat and Zautra, 2011). Cooperated with student
organizations, the OSU Campus Farm can be a good place for students to enrich their out-ofclass activities, helping them improve network. The OSU Campus Farm hosts some social events
such as festival and weekend market in order to create more social opportunities.

Educational Benefits
The OSU Campus Farm supports a learning laboratory for academic study. Professors and
students can directly conduct their research at OSU Campus Farm. Partnering with professors,
the OSU Campus Farm is able to encourage experimental learning of agriculture, natural
resources, and environment among students. Also, the OSU Campus Farm can provide not only
OSU students but also Columbus communities with an educational experience, which allows
them to actively participate in fruit and vegetable planting, composting, and harvesting.

Environmental Benefits
Because the farm is located on campus, the short transportation distance greatly reduces the
emission of CO2. A study in 2008 examining life cycle greenhouse emissions of food production
states that food transportation and distribution accounts for 15% of foods greenhouse gas
emissions (Cho, 2012). In the United States, the distance between farm and market of
conventional foods are considered to travel 1,500 miles while local food miles are less than 400.
Conventional food transportation generates 5 to 17 times more greenhouse gas than local food.
The sustainable land management (the use of organic fertilizer, returning crop residues back to
the soil, and appropriate rotation) improves the carbon storage capacity of soil (Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). The OSU Campus Farm minimized the use of
chemical fertilizers and pesticides and replaces them with organic fertilizer, which can reduce the
risk groundwater pollution. In addition, the sustainable land management greatly enhances soil
productivity by preventing nutrition lose.
Feasibility
OSU Campus Farm project is quite feasible. There are a number of campus farm cases have been
successfully executed in the United States. The Duke University, for example, provides us a great
model of campus farm. Since 2010, the Duke Campus Farm has developed from a student
project to one of the 20 best college farms (Best College Reviews). The one-acre plot produces a
great number of fruits and vegetables annually and the campus farm is also used as practice base
for food science courses. Besides the Duke University, Michigan State University, Yale
University and other over 50 universities has established their campus farm, which provides us
with lots of information.
Partnering with The Ohio State University, we are assuming that we get 5-acre land on campus
from The Ohio State University for free. With approximately $1,571,200 budget, the farm takes
root. We cooperate with the university administration and professors to host workshops,
seminars, volunteer workdays, and tours to encourage students, faculties, and staff in order to
support the operation of OSU Campus Farm. For example, cooperated with student
organizations, the OSU Campus Farm can have volunteer students to work in farm during the

harvest season. In addition, like Duke Campus Farm, OSU Campus Farm can be functioned as an
experimental base for the study of agriculture, natural resources, and environment. Selling fresh
vegetables and fruits within Columbus, OSU Campus Farm helps to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions by approximately 5-10%.
Conclusion
Our project is designed to create a more sustainable source of healthy food and to lessen the
carbon footprint OSU creates through food production. By creating a farm, a composting
program, and a relationship with local farmers, both objectives will be fulfilled, and in time, will
lower the cost of food for students while giving them healthy options to eat. Our projected
budget gives us enough land and supplies to grow crops on 5 acres that will be maintained by a
hired staff along with student volunteers, cultivate a composting program, and involve local
farmers and businesses. We hope that with the cooperation of the school and students, this
project will not only provide food and sustainable practices, but will also teach students about
being more cautious with their food and waste.
The first year of the farms production will consist of a lot of building and planning. The ground
where the farm will take place needs to be designed properly by the agricultural engineer, and
crop planting and rotation plans will need to be developed. Along with this, more specific
features to the farm will need to be developed such as the well that will provide water and the
fences to keep animals out that will also need to be built. However, after the first year, the only
tasks that will need to be done are planting, watering, fertilizing, and harvesting the crops in an
organized and repetitive process. This means that the project will become a lot simpler and less
costly from the second year on. If our project is successful, we hope to expand the farm by more
acres, allowing for a higher yield and even more food options for students.
If our proposal is accepted, immediate steps will be taken to put the project into action. The
timeline calls for hiring to begin as soon as money is supplied, and after the staff members are
hired, the farm will begin to be designed. Using employees such as engineers and gardeners is
the best possible way to ensure our project will be a success. We also hope to get the support of
the agriculture college of Ohio State University to guide us into becoming a fully independent
farming facility. This, along with student help, will encourage other students to see the success of
the farm, and buy and use the products. The farm may start out small, and not be able to supply
food to all of the dining facilities at first, but our project is designed so that there is much room
to grow. What we hope to achieve initially is a step in the right direction, and a foundation that
future students can build upon.

BUDGET

2016

2017

Ag Engineer

$68,000.00

$70,720.00

$73,548.80

$212,268.80

Transport Manager

$26,000.00

$27,040.00

$28,121.60

$81,161.60

Gardener (x3)

$87,000.00

$90,480.00

$94,099.20

$271,579.20

Student Assistant
(x15)

$110,880.00

$110,880.00

$110,880.00

$332,640.00

Benefits

$102,158.00

$104,692.00

$107,327.36

$314,177.36

$10,000.00

$0.00

$0.00

$10,000.00

Fence

$8,000.00

$0.00

$0.00

$8,000.00

Seeds

$13,000.00

$13,000.00

$13,000.00

$39,000.00

Fertilizer

$1,500.00

$1,500.00

$1,500.00

$4,500.00

Greenhouse

$8,000.00

$0.00

$0.00

$8,000.00

$25,000.00

$0.00

$0.00

$25,000.00

$1,000.00

$1,000.00

$1,000.00

$3,000.00

Water (well)

Transport of Goods
Tools

2018 Total

Project expenses

$1,309,326.96

Indirect Costs

$261,865.39

Grand Total

$1,571,192.35
Table 1: Projected budget for project for years 2016-2018

The Agricultural Engineer will design the farm layout and oversee the Planner and the
Gardeners. They will also implement an irrigation system and a crop rotation schedule.
The Transport Manager will be the liaison between the farm and the kitchen. They will oversee
the transport and delivery.
The gardeners will be the main authority of the manual farm labor. They are in charge of the
student assistants and their work schedules.
Ag Engineer, Transport Manager, and Gardeners salary cost was estimated from
indeed.com/salary. They each receive a four percent raise every year for the cost of inflation.
The Student Assistant salary was estimated from personal experience as student assistants. Then
this salary per hour was multiplied by the maximum hours able to be worked per week (28
hours) and then multiplied by 32 weeks per year. There is no increase in salary for the students,
and we will assume they are frequently interchanged.
Benefits are calculated as 35% of the total salary per year.
We plan on digging a well to provide water for the irrigation system. According to Duke Campus
Farms Starting a Farm: Materials Checklist
(http://sites.duke.edu/farm/files/2013/06/DCFchecklist1.pdf) we found the approximate pricing
for the well.
The fence is necessary to keep out deer and other animals that may eat growing crops. We
calculated the perimeter of a five acre farm and then located a fence at deerbusters.com for
$1419 per 330 feet. We calculated the cost for the entire perimeter from this data.
Seeds are needed to grow the crops. We then found an average price per pound of seeds at
americanmeadows.com, and multiplied that by the average pounds of seeds used per acre at
agron.iastate.edu/Courses/Agron212/Calculations?Seed_acre.htm and then multiplied by five
acres.
Fertilizer is estimated to be $300 per acre according to
www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/crops/pdf/a1-20.pdf which was multiplied by five acres.

The greenhouse is necessary for growing crops during the winter months. According to Duke
Campus Farms Starting a Farm: Materials Checklist, a high quality large greenhouse will be
approximately $8,000.
Transport of Goods is needed to move the produce from west campus to the dining facilities on
central campus. We found the cost of two large box trucks to be $20,000 according to
http://www.uhaul.com/Locations/Trucks-for-sale-near-Columbus-OH-43228/DC/769032/ and
then we estimated the costs of plastic bins to be $5000 from https://www.google.com/search?
newwindow=1&rlz=1C1KYPA_enUS601US601&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=shop&q=how+mu
ch+does+a+plastic+box+cost&oq=how+much+does+a+plasticbox+cost&gs_l=serp.1.0.30i10.24
474.25678.0.27398.7.7.0.0.0.0.111.627.6j1.7.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..3.4.388.PR3ydhnLaaM#spd=3
974787774691303750.
Tools are necessary for manual labor in the field. We decided to allocate $1000 per year to pay
for miscellaneous supplies needed by the gardeners and student assistants.
Indirect costs cover office spaces, and other project necessities. This was calculated by taking
twenty percent of the total project expenses.

Works Cited
Charles, Dan. "As Schools Buy More Local Food, Kids Throw Less Food In The Trash."
National Public
Radio. npr, 21 Oct. 2015. Web. 16 Nov. 2015. <http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/
10/20/450294392/
as-schools-buy-more-local-food-kids-throw-less-food-in-the-trash?
utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=f
acebook.com&utm_medium=social>.
Institution of Education Sciences. "Enrollment of the 20 largest degree-granting college
and
university campuses: Fall 2012." National Center for Education Statistics. U.S.
Deptartment of
Education, 2012. Web. 16 Nov. 2015. <http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=74>.

OSU Institutional Research and Planning. "Statistical Summary." osu.edu. The Ohio State
University,
2015. Web. 16 Nov. 2015. <https://www.osu.edu/osutoday/stuinfo.php#budget>.
Schwartz, Marnie. "The Plant-Based Diet Rules You Should Be Following." Shape.
Meredith Corporation,
28 Oct. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2015. <http://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/
plant-based-diet-rules-you-should-be-following>.
University Dining Services. "University Dining Services." Net Nutrition. The Ohio State
University,
2013. Web. 16 Nov. 2015. <http://dining.osu.edu/NetNutrition/1#>.
Yale University. "Farmer's Market." Yale Sustainable Food Program. Yale University, 2015.
Web. 16
Nov. 2015. <http://sustainablefood.yale.edu/farm/farmers-market>.
Best College Reviews (n.d.). The 20 Best College Farms. Retrieved December 2, 2015,
from http://www.bestcollegereviews.org/best-university-farms/
Bishop, Tandis (2010). Health Benefits of Eating Local Produce. Down to Earths Earth
News, Retrieved from https://www.downtoearth.org
Cho, R. (2012, September 4). How Green is Local Food? Retrieved December 2, 2015,
from http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/09/04/how-green-is-local-food/
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (n.d.). What are the
environmental benefits of organic agriculture? Retrieved December 2, 2015, from
http://www.fao.org/organicag/oa-faq/oa-faq6/en/
Okvat, H. A., & Zautra, A. J. (January 01, 2011). Community gardening: a
parsimonious path to individual, community, and environmental resilience. American
Journal of Community Psychology, 47, 3-4.

BUDGET

2016

2017

2018 Total

Ag Engineer

$68,000.00

$70,720.00

$73,548.80

$212,268.80

Transport Manager

$26,000.00

$27,040.00

$28,121.60

$81,161.60

Gardener (x3)

$87,000.00

$90,480.00

$94,099.20

$271,579.20

Student Assistant (x15)

$110,880.00

$110,880.00

$110,880.00

$332,640.00

Benefits

$102,158.00

$104,692.00

$107,327.36

$314,177.36

$10,000.00

$0.00

$0.00

$10,000.00

Fence

$8,000.00

$0.00

$0.00

$8,000.00

Seeds

$13,000.00

$13,000.00

$13,000.00

$39,000.00

Fertilizer

$1,500.00

$1,500.00

$1,500.00

$4,500.00

Greenhouse

$8,000.00

$0.00

$0.00

$8,000.00

$25,000.00

$0.00

$0.00

$25,000.00

$1,000.00

$1,000.00

$1,000.00

$3,000.00

Water (well)

Transport of Goods
Tools
Project expenses
Indirect Costs

$1,309,326.96
$261,865.39

Grand Total

$1,571,192.35
Table 1: Projected budget for project for years 2016-2018

The Agricultural Engineer will design the farm layout and oversee the Planner and the
Gardeners. They will also implement an irrigation system and a crop rotation schedule.
The Transport Manager will be the liaison between the farm and the kitchen. They will oversee
the transport and delivery.
The gardeners will be the main authority of the manual farm labor. They are in charge of the
student assistants and their work schedules.
Ag Engineer, Transport Manager, and Gardeners salary cost was estimated from
indeed.com/salary. They each receive a four percent raise every year for the cost of inflation.
The Student Assistant salary was estimated from personal experience as student assistants. Then
this salary per hour was multiplied by the maximum hours able to be worked per week (28
hours) and then multiplied by 32 weeks per year. There is no increase in salary for the students,
and we will assume they are frequently interchanged.
Benefits are calculated as 35% of the total salary per year.

We plan on digging a well to provide water for the irrigation system. According to Duke Campus
Farms Starting a Farm: Materials Checklist
(http://sites.duke.edu/farm/files/2013/06/DCFchecklist1.pdf) we found the approximate pricing
for the well.
The fence is necessary to keep out deer and other animals that may eat growing crops. We
calculated the perimeter of a five acre farm and then located a fence at deerbusters.com for
$1419 per 330 feet. We calculated the cost for the entire perimeter from this data.
Seeds are needed to grow the crops. We then found an average price per pound of seeds at
americanmeadows.com, and multiplied that by the average pounds of seeds used per acre at
agron.iastate.edu/Courses/Agron212/Calculations?Seed_acre.htm and then multiplied by five
acres.
Fertilizer is estimated to be $300 per acre according to
www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/crops/pdf/a1-20.pdf which was multiplied by five acres.
The greenhouse is necessary for growing crops during the winter months. According to Duke
Campus Farms Starting a Farm: Materials Checklist, a high quality large greenhouse will be
approximately $8,000.
Transport of Goods is needed to move the produce from west campus to the dining facilities on
central campus. We found the cost of two large box trucks to be $20,000 according to
http://www.uhaul.com/Locations/Trucks-for-sale-near-Columbus-OH-43228/DC/769032/ and
then we estimated the costs of plastic bins to be $5000 from https://www.google.com/search?
newwindow=1&rlz=1C1KYPA_enUS601US601&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=shop&q=how+mu
ch+does+a+plastic+box+cost&oq=how+much+does+a+plasticbox+cost&gs_l=serp.1.0.30i10.24
474.25678.0.27398.7.7.0.0.0.0.111.627.6j1.7.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..3.4.388.PR3ydhnLaaM#spd=3
974787774691303750.
Tools are necessary for manual labor in the field. We decided to allocate $1000 per year to pay
for miscellaneous supplies needed by the gardeners and student assistants.
Indirect costs cover office spaces, and other project necessities. This was calculated by taking
twenty percent of the total project expenses.
TIMELINE

Figure 1: Timeline table along with graphic

al
representation of time spent through the first year of the project

Conclusion
Our project is designed to create a more sustainable source of healthier and lower the carbon
footprint OSU creates through food production. By creating a farm, both objectives will be
fulfilled, and in time, will lower the cost of food for students while giving them healthy options
to eat. Our projected budget gives us enough land and supplies to grow on 5 acres that will be
maintained by a hired staff along with student volunteers. We hope that with the cooperation of
the school and students, this project will not only provide food and sustainable practices, but will
also teach students about being more cautious with their food and waste.
If our proposal is accepted, immediate steps will be taken to put the project into action. The
timeline calls for hiring to begin as soon as money is supplied, and after the staff members are
hired, the farm will begin being designed. Using employees such as engineers and gardeners are
the best possible way to ensure our project will be a success. We hope to get the support of the
agriculture college of Ohio State University. This, along with student help, will encourage other
students to see the success of the farm, and buy and use the products. Obviously, not all of the

problems outlined in this proposal will be solved with our farm. There are many other food
groups that need to be considered when looking at the entire campuss production. What we hope
to achieve is a step in the right direction, and a foundation that future students students can build
upon.
The first year of the farms production will be a lot of building and planning. The ground where
the farm will take place needs to be designed properly, and crop planting and rotation plans need
to be developed. Along with this, the well that will provide water and the fences to keep animals
out will also need to be built. However, after the first year, the only tasks that will need to be
done are the planting, watering/fertilizing, and harvesting of the crops. This means that the
project becomes a lot simpler and less costly from the second year on. If our project is
successful, we hope to expand the farm by more acres, allowing for a higher yield and even more
food options for students.

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