Symposium On Agriculture Highlights Importance Of Miami Farm

By Laura Fitzgerald

Miami University journalism student

With its first bounty harvested, the Miami Institute for Food is expanding the farm that has created learning opportunities for students and provided the community with fresh produce.

The institute took part in the recent Agricultural Legacies/Rural Opportunities in Southwest Ohio symposium. It was designed to educate the public about the local agricultural and industrial history of the region.

The symposium also helped facilitate collaboration in order to begin work on a digital humanities map sponsored by Ohio Humanities.

First Harvest

Marguerite Shaffer, professor of history and global and intercultural studies, says the Miami Institute for Food harvested their first crop in summer and fall 2016 on one acre. Radishes, potatoes, parsley, basil and spring onions were just some of the vegetables harvested.

"We started with one acre under cultivation and we grew 30 different kinds of vegetables and about 14,000 pounds of vegetables last season," Shaffer says.

The institute is currently expanding to a second acre, planted with new vegetables such as arugula, turnips, and sweet corn. The institute plans to expand to a third acre in the future, depending on the amount of student interns they hire.

About one acre around the site is planted with pollinator prairie to sustain bee and pollinator populations that are threatened by pesticides and herbicides. The remaining acre is planted with cover crops to rejuvenate the soil, Shaffer says.

A Living Classroom

Shaffer says the farm is used for multiple classes across the entire university.

In one instance a senior capstone in rhetoric designed the institute’s website while Farmer School of Business students used the institute to facilitate community partnerships, manage resources, and market produce to local buyers.

"That’s the value I think of the farm, that it’s not just oh a few students out there growing vegetables but it’s an experiential laboratory for all sorts of projects that are happening all across the university," Shaffer says.

A meeting of Engineers Without Borders also took place at the farm.

In addition to the benefits to students, the institute's farm also contributes to local food production by offering a portion of its food to community partnerships such as the Oxford Community Choice Pantry and La Soupe, a Cincinnati restaurant that feeds local hungry.

Historic District

The farm is part of the Austin-Magie Farm and Mill District, a 35-acre farm that is a National Register for Historic Places property. The institute manages eight acres of the farm.

The Austin-Magie house, a Federal-style brick farm house from 1841, is also part of the Austin-Magie Farm and Mill District.

The house is in need of extensive renovation, Shaffer says. It is not open to the public and while there has been interest in restoring it, the Miami Institute for Food does not currently have the funding to do so.

Aron Austin owned the Austin saw mill and farm. Steve Gordon, administrator of the McGuffey Museum at Miami, says the house would have served as a kind of billboard to advertise Austin's success.

"He’s telling the world I am a prosperous miller, I’ve got a big family that I have to house and shelter and I’m going to build myself a fashionable house," Gordon says.

The Agricultural Legacies/Rural Opportunities in Southwest Ohio symposium was sponsored by Miami’s American Studies program, the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, the Department of Architecture and Interior Design, and Ohio Humanities.

Photo: A speaker presents on preservation and restoration techniques, which are applicable for the Austin-Magie house. --Photo by Laura Fitzgerald