Higher Education Funding Council for England

Edible Campus

Following the creation of a student-led growing site in 2009, and its subsequent expansion through NUS Student Eats, Lancaster University Students’ Union uses Students’ Green Fund to make the transformation from their existing acre of growing space to a full six acres.

Spread across the campus and embedded into the everyday experience of the university community, Edible Campus reconnects staff and students with the food they eat in a sustainable way.

One of the focuses of this project is to turn unexpected areas into growing sites, encouraging students who might not otherwise be engaged with sustainable food production to think more about the impacts of their food choices. Growing boxes have been available right outside halls of residence, and mass seed planting to create herb and salad lawns delivers widespread student participation, offering an entry point to sustainability for the whole campus.

This project injects a passion for sustainable food production across the university, leading to an engagement of 3000 students through volunteering and event attendance, not to mention those reached through everyday acts like picking an apple on the way to lectures – moments which cause all students on campus to reconsider the importance of their eating habits.

Lancaster University Students' Union
£137,940 
.