Since 2010, the Purdue Student Farm has given students a place to learn by doing. Founded by Dr. Steve Hallett and a group of undergraduates, the farm started operations at the new Cherry Lane location in 2017, where long-cropped corn and soybean ground has become a diversified vegetable farm with four high tunnels, six rotational field blocks, and the Overbeck Controlled Environment Agriculture Facility.
Student interns run daily operations, and classes across the College of Agriculture use the farm as a living laboratory. Faculty from horticulture, entomology, botany and plant pathology, engineering, and hospitality and tourism management conduct research there on pest management, soil fertility management, variety performance, weed control, food safety, small-farm data systems, and much more.
Innovation and stewardship go hand in hand. Container farms donated by the Overbeck family provide year-round hydroponic production, while crop rotation, cover crops, and silage tarping build soil health and reduce herbicide use. Community Supported Agriculture programs, launched when COVID-19 closed campus dining, now fund farm operations, and surplus produce goes to the ACE Campus Food Pantry and Purdue’s cultural centers.
The farm also serves as a hub for Purdue Extension activities. Extension specialists use it to demonstrate practices and test new ideas, and the annual Small Farm Education Field Day brings that research directly to growers.
Purdue Extension Educators are invited to collaborate: bring growers, 4-H, or Master Gardener groups for tours; co-host workshops and demonstrations; present at field days; or share county questions that could become research. Together, we can extend the farm’s research and hands-on learning to every Indiana county. To get started, contact Student Farm Director Petrus Langenhoven (plangenh@purdue.edu) or Student Farm Manager Chris Adair (ctadair@purdue.edu).
