ECO HUB BlOOms fOr spring

In the face of global warming, ozone depletion and rampant deforestation, UTD’s Eco Hub, run by student volunteers and monitored by Professors of Instruction Scott Rippel and Christina Thompson, adopts sustainable practices to support future generations.

Research from the U.S. News and World Report shows that the best time to instill sustainable habits in people is during university, as students who adopt environmentally-friendly practices in college are more likely to maintain them for the rest of their lives. One way of getting involved in sustainability is through an on-campus farm. The Eco Hub was estab lished in 2021 to teach students how they can better take care of the planet on an individual and community level. It is a 20,000 square foot piece of land that includes an apiary for honey bees, a farm with a variety of produce, flowers, fruits and onsite composting facilities.

Eco Hub members are currently try ing to find optimal soil conditions and farming methods compatible with Richardson land. According to Avery McKitrick, UTD’s sustainability coordinator, it is essential to use farming practices that maximize crop growth and soil productivity, leading to a healthy produce output.

In order to reach these desired conditions, the Eco Hub experimented with cover crop ping and nitrogen fixation in fall 2022. Strat egies including using cover crops and organic fertilizers like MicroLife to minimize soil com paction and erosion.

“We planted a variety of different cover crops, and we experimented with four different combinations of cover crops,” McKitrick said. “Each seed combination had one nitrogen fixer and one ground breaker. The idea behind that was to figure out which of those cover crops worked best in our soil.”

Most of the produce that is harvested is donated to the Comet Cupboard food pantry for students in need. Food is harvested during work days, then labeled and packaged with compostable bags and delivered to the Comet Cupboard the following week.

“We try to plant varieties that are recognizable because what we donate to the Comet Cupboard might not come with a label,” McKitrick said. “People might not know how to use something that they don’t recognize from a grocery store. So we try to keep the varieties really basic, really easy to understand.”

In an attempt to be more efficient and sustainable, members are also trying to establish a greenhouse. “We are in the process of making some final selections for a greenhouse,” seeds. Vegetable transplants are very expensive, and it’s more cost effective for us to grow them ourselves. So we’re really excited about the idea of getting a greenhouse.”

Moreover, there are also plans to diversify the fruit trees to provide more options for people who utilize the Comet Cupboard.

“Another future project that’s planned is expanding our orchard by planting more fruit trees,” McKitrick said. “So right now we have three peach trees, all of different varieties, planted in our orchard. We’d love to expand in November of this year to add three plum trees.”