Tufts University
IN-2: Innovation 2

This summer (2011) Tisch Library, along with the Tufts Facilities Services department, partnered with the Tufts-sponsored New Entry Sustainable Farming Project to create a demonstration garden in front of the main student library. New Entry assists people with limited resources, many of them immigrants who have an interest in small-scale commercial agriculture, to begin farming in Massachusetts. New Entry has trained dozens of beginning farmers from North America, Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, many of whom are who are now active producers across Eastern Massachusetts and beyond. In 2005 they started the World PEAS Collaborative to help their farmers connect with local consumers through a multi-producer distribution network. Many of these farmers do not have a large enough volume, means of transportation, time or English language skills to effectively access viable markets on their own. By joining together, more than 3 dozen producers now reach more markets and make deliveries more efficiently, including a CSA that delivers on campus. For more information on New Entry and the World PEAS CSA, see www.nesfp.org.
Since many of these farmers grow vegetables native to their country of origin that are not familiar to New Englanders, the demonstration garden was conceived as a way to showcase the unusual plants. The garden is located outside Tisch Library, and includes maize, sorghum, mustard greens, sweet potatoes, Japanese eggplant, millet and other ethnic and traditional crops typically grown by many New Entry Farmers. The garden exposes students and the rest of the Tufts community to a new perspective on what it means to be a vegetable and how the culture of food varies significantly from country to country. It has proven to be a wonderful attention-getter, with many people stopping to watch the tall millet plants swaying in the breeze or read the signs explaining the unfamiliar plants. It has even become a stop on prospective student campus tours.