Campus agricultural projects: The missions that enhance institutions of higher education

Abstract

AbstractCampus farms and gardens, or campus agricultural projects (CAPs), are a growing phenomenon across the United States. While this phenomenon is not novel, the documentation of its contributions is. In response to this dearth of knowledge, this work analyzes the mission and purpose of CAPs to understand their contributions to institutions of higher education and their surrounding communities. Using the mission statements of CAPs online and drawing from content analysis, we use web‐based data to qualitatively analyze their missions and aims. We find that CAPs aim to enhance their institutions of higher education through the main themes of student development, community engagement, campus community engagement, and sustainability. Several under‐recognized themes such as sharing culture/tradition, increasing well‐being, and promoting inclusivity emerged from this work. These resulting themes show that CAPs are not only sites where students learn to grow food but where they connect to grow themselves and their communities.