UMass Student Farm: Approaches to Pest Management

In our visit, we will tour the Agricultural Learning Center and discuss the Student Farm’s approach to pest management. We will briefly discuss Integrated Pest Management, its meaning, and how it is applied on our farm. We will also discuss management roles on the farm, specifically around the role of our IPM management role taken on every year by one of our interns.

The UMass Student Farm is truly a student-run farm.  Each season, up to 15 undergraduate students participate in the cooperative planning and management of our 20-acre vegetable farm, certified with Baystate Organics as well as the Real Organic Project. Our student farmers represent a variety of backgrounds and come from many departments on campus as well as from the other Five Colleges in which they receive college credit for their participation. The Student Farm has been under the direction of Amanda Brown since 2007 and has been managed by Jason Dragon since 2019. Our primary markets are UMass community members via a 100-plus member CSA, the four UMass dining halls, and student-run businesses on campus. Also, the farm’s only off-campus sales come from working with and selling to four local Big Y supermarkets.

Date: Monday, July 8, 4pm-7pm

Location: UMass Student Farm, 911 North Pleasant St. Amherst, MA