Turf Battle Brewing For Control of Miami University's Organic Farm

BY ANGIE RIFFLE, BRIAN HUBER
and ALTHEA PERLEY
Miami University journalism students

The Miami Food Studies Institute is continuing to cultivate the Austin-Magie Farm behind Yager Stadium.

Fifteen student interns, professors, and a student organization called Food Accessibility and Resilience at Miami (FARM) are working on the plot. But they are running against the clock. If the farm cannot become self-sustainable, Miami University will take the eight acres and use the land as part of a 35-acre athletic extension project.

The farm is on the National Register of Historic Places, and has topsoil that's more than five feet deep. Because of this, a one-acre area yielded more than 1,000 pounds of butternut squash and tomato plants taller than 7 feet this past summer.

“That land is some of the best agricultural land in Butler County -- very deep, very fertile soil, has a huge history behind it,” said Alfredo Huerta, a Miami biology associate professor and one of the project directors.

$200,00 grant not enough

The program is using a three-year seed grant of $200,000 from Miami University Provost Innovation and Interdisciplinary Fund to support the farm, but that alone is not enough.

Originally the Austin-Magie Farm intended to sell its crops to Miami. But once Miami's dining services did not purchase as expected -- since it costs less to buy pre-processed vegetables that chefs don’t have to peel or cut themselves.

So the farm has been selling to local venues such as Quarter Barrel and Moon Co-op, making close to $1,000 a month. About 85 percent of the local produce sold at Moon Co-op is currently coming from Miami’s farm, but even so, the farm has only been able to sell around 20 percent of its produce.

Peggy Shaffer, co-founder of the Institute for Food and a professor of history and global and intercultural studies, explains: “That soil is incredibly valuable. If you read about it, the type of soil, it basically says that’s the ideal soil for agriculture, and to think that that would be covered up with a parking lot or a turf field, to me, doesn’t adequately acknowledge the value of that land.”

As they head into Year 2 of the project, the farm is working alongside local businesses to secure more grants, get more donors, and establish a market, in hopes that they can plant the seed for a sustainable future.

“There’s something really special about working with the food that you’re going to serve to your peers here at this university,” said Miami student Reed Gerber.

This story was produced for a video reporting class at Miami University.