Cornercopia Field Trip

Organization: Cornercopia, the University of Minnesota Organic Student Farm. This quote sums up what they're all about. "To steward a student managed, organic, sustainable farm that provides food, a place for community building, multidisciplinary education, research and outreach."

Date:  Wednesday, May 1st, 2013

Location: Cornercopia is a fully functioning, USDA-certified organic farm that grows over 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables located on the U of MN - Saint Paul campus.

Germinating pots in the greenhouse. Using what I would call a soil block, seeds are germinated in a very unique way. Rather than laying down roots that wrap around and become a tangled mess, the growing plant develops in a more natural way. When the plants are transferred to larger pots or into the field, they don't have to go through transplant shock.

A second greenhouse where plants are grown until weather conditions improve (an issue you may notice in the following pictures). I believe these are tomato plants.

An outdoor high tunnel structure. Ideally, this extends the growing season of any given year by about 3 weeks on either end of the season. It provides some cover from the elements and would be warmer than the outdoor temp. if it were more well insulated.

Cornercopia practices composting as a method of improving the composition of soil organic matter and adding nutrients to the fields before planting season.

A method of planting fruit bearing trees in sets of three. I forget why this helps, but a quick googling of the subject tells me that it increases the number of plants you can grow on an orchard. Also, with fruit bearing trees that ripen at different times, this allows for more consistent harvesting.

I thought the tour was very interesting. I think it would have been much more fulfilling had this spring been even remotely existent, but nonetheless, the organic methods were intriguing. Being an employee of one of the U of MN's small grain labs, I often see the conventional farming styles typically used with corn, wheat, etc. The sustainable practices and innovative approaches to farming were a good change of pace for me. Cornercopia relates to our class in many ways. For one, it is a subset of the food system at the U of MN. The produce is sold at the University farmer's market held weekly. Some of it is sold to businesses such as the micro-greens business that was discussed. Cornercopia also plays into the educational aspects of the food system. It provides a hands on approach for horticultural students and anyone else who is interested to learn how to farm using small scale, realistic methods that could be used by any avid gardener.