Harvesting for Health

Just in time for Earth Day, Brooklyn College brings to its students, faculty, and staff a new partnership with Corbin Hill Food Project, a local community supported agriculture program (CSA). Each week, members of the campus community get a farm share that includes fresh and locally grown fruits and vegetables.

In the last two weeks, the program has provided spinach, mint, carrots, apples, kale, mushrooms, and much more for roughly 100 Brooklyn College customers.

Carrie Sadovnik, chair of the Brooklyn College Sustainability Council says the idea to engage the campus with a farm share program came up when she worked with students during last year’s sustainability fair. She realized after speaking with other people on campus that there was a fair amount of interest, and started reaching out to local organizations. She discovered Corbin Hill, which had the most flexible options for payments and weekly commitments.

"They offer a more appealing model, especially for a community where you have students who are not necessarily on campus every week," says Sadovnik.

She also liked that Corbin Hill has a focus on connecting low-income and food-desert communities with regional farms. "They make the community supported agriculture model accessible," she says.

Sadovnik enlisted a few students from the Brooklyn College Urban Sustainability Program to help coordinate the food share and run the distribution every week.

The college had to commit to providing at least 30 to 40 customers per week, a goal that has been far surpassed already—with its 100 weekly members, Brooklyn College is now Corbin Hill’s largest customer.

For more information and to sign up, visit Corbin Hill Food Project.