Produced by Us, EARTH University’s Self- Sufficiency Program, started in 2007 to enhance the entrepreneurial education of our students, strengthen our financial sustainability and positively impact the community through direct purchasing from nearby farms.
Thanks to this program, today, the majority of ingredients used to prepare meals in the cafeteria are produced on institutional farms or in the neighboring communities surrounding EARTH, resulting in a lower carbon-footprint and a win-win-win partnership for EARTH, the community and our people.
The program is guided by the following commitments:
1. Enhance the educational model and the entrepreneurial formation of our students
Students and staff are greatly motivated by the opportunity to grow, harvest and process food that is consumed internally, enhancing experiential learning courses like work experience, professional experience and the entrepreneurial projects program.
2. Foster well-being in the surrounding communities
Through our Community Development Program we have been able to train farmers in the neighboring communities to produce those products that EARTH does not produce. Farmers receive a better price for their goods by eliminating an intermediary.
3. Achieve greater financial sustainability
The program has significantly reduced costs for EARTH’s cafeteria and has created an income stream for EARTH’s academic farms.
4. Produce healthy and nutritious food.
By consuming what we grow, we ensure that we are eating fresh food grown under good agricultural practices.
5. Support institutional innovation
The program, which originally began as a student suggestion, has effectively involved several classes of students, as well as faculty and staff throughout the organization, promoting a culture of innovation, collaboration and creativity in proposing new ways to increase the sustainability of the University
