Impact Report 2018 - 2019

School of Public Health & The University of Washington Farm 

3501 NE 41st Street, Seattle, WA 98105
Table of Contents

Introduction 4
Acknowledgements 4
Objective 4
Background on Food Insecurity 5
Overview of the UW Farm 6

Methods 7

Section 1: Housing and Food Services (HFS) 9

Section Highlights 9
Background 10
Methods 10
2018 Results 11
2019 Results 16
Survey Results 22
Discussion 26

Section 2: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) 30

Section Highlights 30
Background 31
Methods 33
2018 Results 34
2019 Results 34
Survey Results 36
Discussion 42

Section 3: Intellectual House (IH) - The Wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ 45

Section Highlights 45
Background 46
Methods 47
2018 Results 48
2019 Results 50
Survey Results 53
Discussion 56

Section 4: University of Washington Food Pantry 59

Section Highlights 59
Background 60
Methods 60
2018 Results 61

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 2019 Results 66
Survey Results 70
Discussion 72

Section 5: University of Washington Academics 74

Section Highlights 74
Background 75
Methods 76
2018 and 2019 Results 76
Survey Results 84
Discussion 85

Conclusion: A Review and Synthesis of UW Farm Impact 89

Limitations 92

References 94

Appendix 95
Appendix A: Snapshot of University Farms across the Pacific Northwest 95
Appendix B: Timeline of the UW Farm 97
Appendix C: Overview of UW School of Public Health Capstone 99
Appendix D: Produce Categorizations 100
Appendix E: Housing and Food Services (HFS) 101
Appendix F: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) 105
Appendix G: University of Washington Food Pantry 107
Appendix H: Copy of Madison Delmendo’s Report 108
Appendix I: Surveys 109
HFS Survey, Meghan Frisch 109
CSA Survey, Gabriela Webb 113
Intellectual House Survey, Magnus Jim 119
UW Food Pantry Survey, Maryan Abdi 127
Academic Staff Survey for UW Farm, Claire Branley 130
Carlson Center Student Survey 132

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Introduction

Acknowledgements
Alyssa Frugé, B.A. in Public Health-Global Health: Health Education & Promotion, Diversity Minor,
2020

This Impact Report was developed by six University of Washington (UW) School of Public Health
(SPH) seniors with assistance and support from Perry Acworth, the UW Farm Manager. The team started
this review in conjunction with the UW SPH capstone requirement of the Public Health-Global Health
Major that asks each student to contribute 50 hours of service to a community based organization (see
Appendix C for a complete overview). In completing this report, academic data was derived from
Madison Delmendo’s report, “Utilization of the UW Farm by Academic Courses and Service Learning
2012-2019.” Delmendo, a Master of Nutritional Sciences Candidate at UW in 2018, analyzed how the
UW Farm could modify its services to reach its full academic potential (see Appendix H for Delmendo’s
full report). This Impact Report of the UW Farm intends to not only further the research compiled by
Delmendo, but to unearth how the UW Farm can be of greater service to the rest of its stakeholders in
the UW-Seattle campus community. These include the Intellectual House (The Wǝ ǝb altx ), the UW
Food Pantry, UW Housing and Food Services (HFS), and the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
program. We would like to acknowledge that the UW Farm resides on the land of the Duwamish people,
and offer thanks to the first people of Seattle, the original and continued caretakers of this land.

Objective
The objective of this report is to:

● Assess the usership of the UW Farm in recent years (2018-2019) and in doing so, provide the
evidence necessary for UW Administration and funding stakeholders to adequately evaluate the
need to hire an Academic Coordinator to maintain the UW Farm’s educational mission.
● Quantify and analyze the pounds of produce grown and harvested from the UW Farm in 2018
and 2019, as well as the revenue produced from these goods.
● Collect and analyze survey data to inform how the UW Farm can better serve and support
stakeholders in the future.

Contained in this report is an assessment of UW Farm usage academically, by the Intellectual

House, and by community volunteers. Additionally, assessments on produce cultivation and harvest for
the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and Housing and Food Services (HFS) partnership
are included, as well as revenue from these partnerships. Donations of fresh produce to the UW Food
Pantry, which provides food to food insecure UW students, staff, and faculty, are also analyzed in this
report. The UW Farm is the UW Food Pantry’s main supplier of fresh produce.1

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 This Impact Report highlights the discourse surrounding, and UW efforts to combat, food
insecurities on the UW-Seattle Campus. Our research provides insight on how student-run farms on
college and university campuses across the nation can improve their services for local stakeholders, and
to combat food insecurity. This is crucial because there is minimal research on how university and
college farms can improve their services to address food insecurity experienced by students, especially
on local levels. Within this context, this report recommends next steps for future analysis and
interventions that can bolster the educational, food sovereignty, and food security values of the UW
Farm.

Background on Food Insecurity

Meghan Frisch, B.A. in Public Health-Global Health, Diversity Minor, Interdisciplinary Honors
2020
Alyssa Frugé, B.A. in Public Health-Global Health: Health Education & Promotion, 2020
Gabriela Webb, B.S. in Public Health Global Health: Nutritional Sciences, 2020

Food insecurity is defined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as having a
limited or uncertain ability to acquire socially acceptable, safe, or nutritious foods.2 Food insecurity is a
rapidly growing issue on university campuses throughout the United States.3 Nationally, university
students are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity, with rates between 20% and 50%, far above
the national food insecurity rate of 12% among the general public.4 Even more, this prevalence is
increasing.5 In Washington state, approximately 11% of households experience food insecurity.5
However, when compared to university students enrolled at the three UW campuses (Seattle, Tacoma,
and Bothell), it is clear that there is a significant disparity of food insecurity among university students
versus the overall state population. In winter of 2018, a survey conducted across all UW campuses found
that 26% of students were worried about having enough food in the previous month.3 18.7% of students
ran out of food and did not have the financial means to purchase more, and 35.3% of students could not
afford to buy ingredients for balanced meals.3 Of those who were categorized as food insecure from this
survey, 19% ate less than they should, 18% skipped or rationed their meals, and 15% were not eating
despite being hungry.3 The results of this study have not been peer reviewed, but are an important initial
step in measuring food insecurity among college students. With an 11% food insecurity rate in
Washington State and a 12% national food insecurity rate, this study exemplifies the disproportionate
impact of food insecurity among university students in Washington State, and supports an equivalent
conclusion at the national level.3,4,6

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Overview of the UW Farm
Claire Branley, B.S. in Public Health - Global Health, 2020
Madison Delmendo, M.S. in Nutritional Science, 2019
Meghan Frisch, B.A. in Public Health - Global Health, Diversity Minor, Interdisciplinary Honors,
2020
Alyssa Frugé, B.A. in Public Health - Global Health: Health Education & Promotion, Diversity
Minor, 2020
Magnus Jim, B.A. in Public Health - Global Health, 2020
Gabriela Webb, B.S. in Public Health - Global Health: Nutrition Science, 2020

The UW Farm is a student-run organization on campus that was established to grow and supply
produce for the Housing and Food Services (HFS), UW Food Pantry, and individual households utilising
the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model. The UW Farm also provides growing space and
resources for the Intellectual House (The Wǝ ǝb altx ) to support food sovereignty among students who
are citizens of the first nations of the land on which we live. The mission of the UW Farm is as follows:

“Our mission is to be the campus center for the practice and study of urban
agriculture and sustainability, and an educational, community-oriented resource
for people who want to learn about building productive and sustainable urban
landscapes.”7

In addition to production, the Farm hosts academic laboratory courses, course field trips and
tours, and academic service learners.1 Data on academic usership has been collected in previous years,
but has not been consistently compiled or analyzed from year to year. Therefore, a clear picture of
trends in academic usership has yet to be articulated. Academic usership of the farm continues to rise,
placing greater workload on the Farm Manager to coordinate both production and academic use.

Prior to completing this report, records of sales for the CSA program were available in paper
format or by photos. HFS records remained in uncleaned excel spreadsheets utilized by HFS locations in
ordering produce. UW Pantry and Intellectual House data were nearly non-existent. In creating this
report, we have compiled, organized, and analysed the data across all five stakeholders to develop the
necessary understandings for efficient and impactful growth of the UW Farm.

In the next few years the UW Farm is projected to double in size of cultivated land after
obtaining plots from Seattle Tilth.1 This will bring the total cultivated land up to one acre at the Center
for Urban Horticulture (CUH) site.1 Additionally, the UW Farm was granted organic certification as of
February 2020, which is projected to increase the revenue of the farm.1 This growth cannot be sustained
without more full time staff and consistent support from the university.

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Methods
Alyssa Frugé, B.A. in Public Health-Global Health: Health Education & Promotion, Diversity Minor,
2020

The purpose of this report is to assess how the UW Farm serves the campus population through
its primary stakeholders. Five key stakeholders were identified by the Farm Manager to assess the
different ways the UW Farm is supporting the UW and Seattle community. These are primarily
food-related organizations, campus populations, and academic programs across the UW Seattle campus.
These organizations include the UW Food Pantry, CSA, and HFS. Academic partners include UW faculty
and staff, such as the School of Environment and School of Public Health, as well as non-UW businesses
and clubs. Additional partners on campus population include students of the first nations through
partnership with the Intellectual House (The Wǝ ǝb altx ).

The team compiled and analyzed production, sales, donations, and academic use records from
January 2018 through December 2019. Data were obtained from email, harvest logs, price sheets
(referenced as “fresh sheets” in this report), personal interviews with the UW Farm Manager, Perry
Acworth, and the UW Farm’s newsletter. Many of these resources were accessed through the UW Farm’s
Google Drive filing system. A previous report was written for academic usership for the years 2012
through 2018, but records for total production were not collected prior to 2018 (see Appendix H for the
full report).

Next, the team created stakeholder-specific surveys to assess key stakeholders’ use of the UW
Farm and how the UW Farm could better serve stakeholders. The surveys mostly included multiple
choice questions to allow for quick data analysis. Some open-ended questions were asked for optional
expansion of thought on previous close-ended questions. The team created two different types of
surveys. One type was geared towards directors and operators for stakeholders such as HFS and the UW
Pantry, while the others were for direct customers of UW Farm programs such as CSA or Academic users.
The Intellectual House’s survey was a combination, focusing on those who use and visit the Intellectual
House space.

For the directors and operators, types of questions asked included how many individuals visited
their location and the types of produce most in demand at their site. The surveys also asked how the UW
Farm could be of greater service to them (i.e. if the farm could offer more educational training for
directors or stakeholder employees). These questions aimed to gather data on how the UW Farm could
tailor their production and therefore increase their revenue from certain foods, as well as how the
organization could further assist these stakeholders looking forward.

In the CSA survey, questions about racial and ethnic identity were asked. These questions were
sourced from the US Census, as it is considered to be a gold standard test when gathering data on race
and ethnicity. The team included these questions in the CSA survey to assess which racial and ethnic

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groups utilize and benefit most from the UW Farm through this program. Questions on barriers and
impediments that prevent users from obtaining produce were also included on all direct customer
surveys to gather data on how the facilities could more efficiently meet the needs of community
members being served.

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Conclusion: A Review and Synthesis of UW Farm Impact
Claire Branley, B.S. in Public Health - Global Health, 2020
Meghan Frisch, B.A. in Public Health - Global Health, Diversity Minor, Interdisciplinary Honors
2020
Alyssa Frugé, B.A. in Public - Global Health: Health Education & Promotion, Diversity Minor 2020

The UW Farm produced a total of 23,682 pounds of produce over the course of two years with
9,312 pounds in 2018 and 14,370 pounds in 2019 (see Figure 6A). In 2019, the total growing space was
0.8 acres (34,838 square feet), and output was approximately 0.4 lbs of produce per square foot.
However, it is important to note that there is a range in output among crops; some vegetables are
incredibly high yield per square foot (pole beans are vigorous climbers and take up relatively little square
feet) while others are low yield per square foot.

Figure 6A: Breakdown of UW Farm produce outlets in 2018 and 2019. Data compiled from the UW
Food Pantry, CSA, HFS, and Intellectual House sections completed by SPH Capstone Team.

Orange: Intellectual House

The UW Farm has become a vital resource for food, education and community on campus and
beyond. It has grown significantly in the past two years in all five of its partnerships. Sales to HFS
increased by 123%, donations to the UW Food Pantry increased by 521%, and CSA production increased
by 50%. The amount of service learners tripled, and availability of internship and employment
opportunities for students increased, such as the addition of the Wǝ ǝb altx Garden Lead. The Farm
strengthened its relationship with the Wǝ ǝb altx Intellectual House by establishing the Native Garden
Plot and collaborating locally and nationally to procure indigenous seeds and bulbs. This rapid growth
over approximately eighteen months was made possible by the efforts of Perry Acworth, who began her

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position as UW Farm Manager in April 2018. Not only did she successfully grow produce to feed the
community, but she acted as a volunteer coordinator, an instructor, a student mentor, a tour guide and
host, among many other roles.

The team found similarities in data trends when reviewing the five stakeholders. For instance,
both the 2019 data for CSA and HFS illustrate that the most produce purchased was during late summer
(i.e. July and August). This can be seen in the dramatic spike in produce purchased in July in Figure 6B.
This demonstrates that late summer is a crucial period in which the UW Farm is in highest demand. This
is also a time when service learning and student availability drops dramatically, as shown in Figure 5C
(also see Figure 6B).

Figure 6B: Service learning usage in 2018 and 2019 in comparison to total production from HFS, CSA
and Food Pantry donations combined for 2019.

Due to drastic differences in proportion of produce allocated to each stakeholder (see Figure
6A), the top produce items purchased or received by HFS, CSA, and the UW Food Pantry are better
interpreted within rather than across stakeholders. Therefore, please see individual stakeholder sections
for information on crop production and purchasing for each stakeholder, as well as the recommended
focus of future crop plans for high revenue and desired produce items.

In the Intellectual House survey, most participants responded that they visited the Mercer Court
location to access the UW Farm’s produce. This may be because this is the most convenient location for
students to visit, and/or because they are available during the open hours of operation. With that said, it
may be necessary to advertise the other UW Farm locations (i.e. McMahon Hall and the Center for
Urban Horticulture), so they can also receive more visits and thus benefit more students with produce.

In reviewing the impact of each stakeholder, opportunities for expansion revealed themselves
across multiple stakeholders. Recommendations for future expansion and improvement of UW Farm

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impact are available in more detail under each stakeholder’s section. Possible opportunities that were
highlighted are the following:

● The CSA survey highlighted that food waste is a barrier to buying a CSA share. To address this
concern, the UW Farm can update the CSA program to offer the option for shareholders to skip a
box by donating it to the UW Food Pantry. The UW Farm can add the produce that would have
been provided to a stakeholder to the usual weekly shipment provided to the UW Pantry. This
would reduce food waste, provide a requested service to CSA shareholders, and allocate
additional produce to the food insecure students and staff who utilize the UW Food Pantry.

● The Intellectual House survey highlighted requests for more educational materials, tutorials, and
education on the farm. Additionally, the Academic survey results highlight that students are
seeking more employment opportunities and more flexible service learning hours. To meet
these requests, students looking for employment opportunities on the farm could be directed
towards becoming a certified UW Farm Tour Guide, increasing the availability of educational
services on the farm. Additionally, a student position could be developed to create educational
materials and tutorials about the farm and farming practices, including resources such as
pamphlets or short videos that can be distributed to partners like the Intellectual House, as well
as the wider community. These expansions of the UW Farm services would address requests of
the Academic and Intellectual House stakeholders, however, they would require additional funds
that are not currently available in the UW Farm budget.

● An additional opportunity for supporting stakeholders is through meeting the request for
value-added products, such as pickles, sauerkraut, and jam, to be provided by the UW Farm. In
the impact surveys for both HFS and CSA, respondents expressed interest in value-added
products as a potential expansion of UW Farm services. This expansion of service would then
provide an opportunity for expansion of the Academic services provided at the UW Farm.
Students fulfilling service learning would have the opportunity to learn about fermentation
science, pickling, and food storage. This learning would enhance the impact of the UW Farm on
students through expanding upon farm to table processes.

Further, it is important to note that the UW Farm is expected to increase in size of cultivated
land after it obtains Seattle Tilth land plots.1 This will increase the size of the UW Farm by one acre at the
Center for Urban Horticulture site, allowing for the Farm to have more room to cultivate and harvest
produce. Further, the Farm received organic certification in February 2020, giving the organization more
opportunity for increased revenue. Over the past two years, the UW Farm successfully strengthened its
partnerships across all five sectors. Production sent to HFS, CSA and the UW Food Pantry increased from
2018 to 2019, as well as academic usership of the Farm and engagement with the Intellectual House. It is
expected that UW Farm services to these stakeholders will continue to increase into 2020. However,
despite the increase in land available for expanding service to stakeholders, a limiting factor is the
availability of staff to manage, support, and sustain this growth. This limitation is an increasingly

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significant factor due to the potential for implementation of service expansion opportunities identified
throughout this impact report. These opportunities for expansion will require varied levels of time and
resource investment.

Therefore, the team recommends the sustained hire of an Academic Coordinator. This position
would uphold relationships with current UW faculty and community partners, as well as expand its
outreach to the community and establish new partnerships. This would allow the Farm Manager to
dedicate more to time to crop production and planning, working with students, leading tours, and
supporting interns and capstone students - responsibilities that will continue to grow in the coming
years.

Limitations
Claire Branley, B.S. in Public Health - Global Health, 2020
Meghan Frisch, B.A. in Public Health - Global Health, Diversity Minor, Interdisciplinary Honors
2020
Alyssa Frugé, B.A. in Public - Global Health: Health Education & Promotion, Diversity Minor, 2020
Gabriela Webb, B.S. in Public Health-Global Health: Nutrition Science, 2020

There are several limitations to consider when interpreting the results of this report. The
COVID-19 pandemic unfolded while completing this impact report. This proved disruptive for the
operations of the UW Farm and pertinent stakeholders. HFS and the UW Food Pantry were particularly
impacted by the stay-home-stay-safe order which prompted UW in-person closure and altered protocols
for serving their customers. As a result, the team did not receive as many survey responses as
anticipated. The lower-than-anticipated response rates from stakeholder impact surveys may have
contributed to results that were not generalizable nor representative of the greater population’s needs.
If these surveys are to be conducted again, it is imperative that more responses are gathered so more
meaningful data can be interpreted.

Additionally, there were discrepancies among survey produce categories. When surveying HFS
stakeholders, cut flowers and herbs were not listed as options on some questions. This decreased the
validity of the results, since these were highly purchased products in 2018 and 2019. The UW Food
Pantry and Intellectual House surveys were also limited due to a lack of responses. This reduces the
generalizability of the results as well as reduces the validity of the findings. Additionally, Intellectual
House data available for the 2018 and 2019 year provides partial or limited data on the yield of produce
grown within the IH plot. What was able to be gathered was implemented and used within the report.

Although data for academic usage was widely available, there are limitations on the amount of
feedback the UW Farm was able to receive from its academic stakeholders. Originally, Claire Branley
intended to do an in-person survey of service learnings partway through spring quarter, which became

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impossible once the school transitioned to online learning. Additionally, very few people responded to
the survey that was distributed to academic faculty, which limited the ability to quantitatively analyze
results. In the future, it may be beneficial to compile a more comprehensive list of faculty contacts that
the Farm has a relationship with, or who are conducting research that is related to the Farm’s mission, in
order to gauge satisfaction and interest in the Farm’s academic activities.

There are also some limitations to consider when interpreting the results of the CSA survey. It is
not known how representative the survey sample is of typical CSA shareholders, particularly since
shareholders may only sign up for one type of session each year. Additionally, shareholders often split
shares with friends, family, roommates, or neighbors, and as such, some of the survey responses may
only reflect one individual’s experiences out of an entire household or of multiple households
participating in the program. Some shareholders reported they had not received a first share yet as they
were first-time subscribers. Therefore, these individuals would not be able to provide feedback on
survey questions which assessed past experiences with CSA shares and unfortunately, this was not
accounted for in the survey design; this may limit the internal validity of the results. Moreover, the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic likely affected who was able to participate in taking the survey.
Despite these limitations, valuable feedback was gathered to inform the future direction of the UW
Farm.

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