PHX Reporter

Orderly rows of lettuce, flowers and vegetables in raised planter beds flourish alongside pecan and citrus trees at the Garden Commons on Arizona State University's Polytechnic campus.

Here, students toil in the desert sun, planting bok choy, cilantro and jalapeños, as they the learn lessons from the earth on everything from organic and regenerative farming to seed selection and germination to composting and beneficial insects.   

The garden is abuzz with nature’s hard-working pollinators from one of the nation’s largest bee research facilities in the United States, tucked away in a dirt lot on the southern edge of the Polytechnic campus. Here, Cahit Ozturk, a research technologist and associate researcher at ASU’s Bee Lab Annex, dons a beekeeping suit to show visitors how up to 2,000 pounds of honey is harvested from the more than 50 honeybee colonies at the lab each year. 

Nearby is a desert oasis of more than 40 varieties of rare date palm trees with lush fronds, textured trunks and luscious fruit that was a common sweet treat 100 years ago. ASU’s date palm “germplasm” is a living genetic resource maintained for plant breeding and research. Deborah Thirkhill, program coordinator at ASU Facilities Development and Management Grounds Services, organizes a harvest each year.  

ASU’s entire Tempe campus is a designated arboretum meant to be an oasis for plants around the world, including citrus, olive, pecan, sapote, apple, peach, quince and many other harvestable trees and shrubs. Here, 260 Seville sour orange trees produce six to eight tons of fruit each year, harvested January through March. 

On both the Tempe and Downtown Phoenix campuses, Engrained Café offers a seasonal menu featuring locally grown and harvested food in a full-service, dine-in restaurant. Its assortment of sustainable food includes organic produce, fair-trade coffee, locally grass-fed beef, cage-free eggs and all-natural chicken. 

Nestled among this cornucopia of fresh fruits and vegetables grown on ASU’s campuses are innovators shaping the sustainable future of food. 

Advocating for organic farming

A long-time advocate for organic farming, Kathleen Merrigan literally wrote the law that established national standards for organic food. As former deputy secretary and COO of the United States Department of Agriculture, she led efforts to support local food systems from 2009 to 2013. 

Now the executive director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at ASU, she has co-authored a new report with the Natural Resources Defense Council and Californians for Pesticide Reform to help guide U.S. policymakers on the benefits and value of organic agriculture practices in preparation for the next version of the Farm Bill. The most recent version of this federal legislation was enacted in 2018 and is set to expire in 2023.

“Every Farm Bill is hugely important. It controls about 70% of what the USDA does and puts out billions and billions of dollars,” Merrigan says. “One of the things I’ve been doing at the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems is raising the flag that the government has underinvested in organic agriculture. Across the USDA’s 17 agencies and hundreds of programs, probably less than 1% of the money going out the door is spent on organic. We’d like to make the case it should be 6%. It’s such a modest ask. It represents how much food is currently purchased by Americans that is organic. What a world of difference it would make.

“As we face the grim news that we’re not doing enough to combat climate change, I think organic is a great answer to a lot of the problems that we face, not only in the U.S., but globally."

Her new report, “Grow Organic: The Climate, Health and Economic Case for Expanding Organic Agriculture,” details the potential of agriculture in addressing climate change, health crises and economic struggle. Topics discussed in the report include organic agriculture’s ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect human health and support economic resilience.

For example, organic farming eliminates the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide resulting from the use of synthetic fertilizers. And organic farming is a smart choice because it produces higher crop yields in the face of climate change.  

The rise of the vertical farm

A glimpse of the future of farming can be seen inside ASU’s vertical farm on a tucked-away corner of the Polytechnic campus. Yujin Park, an assistant professor in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, watches over racks of strawberries and lettuce in white shipping containers growing under exotic colorful lighting. 

The Economist listed vertical farming as one of the top 22 emerging technologies to watch in 2022. Park, whose research focuses on horticultural crop physiology and controlled environment agriculture, says the indoor farming method could be the wave of the future in today’s era of climate change. 

“Vertical farming could be a real game changer if water becomes really scarce,” she says. “In general, in comparison to field crop production, vertical farms can save 90 to 95 percent of water for growing crops.” 

Vertical farming provides reliable year-round crop production unaffected by adverse weather conditions and uses no agrochemicals or pesticides. As countries such as Britain, Denmark and the United States establish vertical farms in urban areas, they provide the ultimate local food. 

The College of Integrative Sciences and Arts began offering a certificate program in vertical farming this fall semester. Classes are taught by Park and her colleague, Zhihao Chen, an instructor teaching chemistry and controlled environment agriculture within ClSA and co-founder of Homer Farms Inc., a cleantech startup establishing a circular economy in food waste and food production. 

Original source can be found here.