Carolina Alumni Review - January/February 2010

‘Inch by Inch,
Row by Row…’

When layoffs last spring raised awareness that many in the University community struggle to feed their families, Tommy Griffin, chair of the Employee Forum, began hearing requests for a food bank. That sparked the idea for an employee-run garden on campus, and a subsequent survey revealed broad support. Claire Lorch ’ 76 is coordinating a volunteer team of staff, faculty, students and community members who aim to launch the garden this spring.

The N.C. Botanical Garden has sponsored the project, and the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention is contributing expertise. The University has agreed to provide temporary use of a plot off Cameron Avenue, along with water and machinery to break up the ground. Landscape architects have donated designs, and the local charitable foundation Strowd Roses has granted initial funding.

The planners envision the garden not just as a source of food but as a springboard for classes in bio-intensive agriculture, composting, container gardening and nutritious cooking.

Researching what we eat

Surrounded by this constellation of effort and opinion, Alice Ammerman’s research project is getting under way. Receiving funding as a Gillings Innovation Lab has allowed her to take the eclectic approach that encompasses nutrition, economics and global warming.

The Innovation Lab setup “gives us a lot of opportunity to see how all these things fit together,” she has said. It also encourages practical outcomes: information that can be used to further develop sustainable agriculture, farmers’ markets and the other elements of integrated local food systems.

Ammerman’s team includes dozens of
collaborators from numerous agencies and
organizations. She’s pulling in faculty expert-
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