by Aiden Olsen (’24) | October 6, 2023
In the summer of 2017, residents of Sunnyvale, California filed into a busy City Hall. They were upset about Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) canceling the local farm’s lease. Full Circle Farm, a farm that grows organic produce in the heart of Silicon Valley, was going to be converted into a privately owned townhouse community. After receiving numerous complaints, the district reversed its decision and renewed the farm lease. However, it would no longer be an independent farm; the acreage would become an educational facility that would provide local, organic produce for the school district’s schools, known as the SCUSD Farm.
While rapid technological success may define the Bay Area, running an educational farm in the Silicon Valley poses a myriad of challenges. “This farm is so [far] removed from the agricultural industry that sometimes when getting supplies, I have to go to Salinas, Watsonville, [or] Gilroy down by the agricultural hub,” laughed David Tuttle, the farm’s director. Tuttle cultivates crops that are served at school cafeterias across the district six days a week.
With over forty acres of land, the farm prioritizes community engagement and education. In all of California, only four schools have “farm-to-school” programs. The SCUSD Farm is the only educational farm program owned by a school district that provides organic produce to schools in California. The rarity of such farms highlights the depressing reality that there is inadequate infrastructure in place to provide local produce to California schools.
Expanding outwards, the farm hopes to foster interest in agriculture, especially considering the fact that nutrition standards for children are quickly declining in America. According to a 2021 study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in three children do not eat fruit daily, and one in two children do not eat vegetables daily. The SCUSD Farm hopes to change this concerning trend by offering more appealing varieties of fruits and vegetables.
“If the district says [they] want 150 pounds of cauliflower, it’s my job to say [the kids] like purple, yellow, green and I will plant that because the probability of a kid taking cauliflower and putting it in his mouth is more likely if they have those colors versus white,” explained Tuttle.
The farm’s educational efforts benefit both consumers and the farm itself; informed consumers are more likely to make healthy choices and support the farm economically.
Sitting on valuable property in the Bay Area, the district’s farm originally looked like it would fall into the hands of developers down the road. However, the exact opposite will happen, according to Tuttle: “This farm is going to extend halfway into that field, and the nature center is going to come into the other half… and there is going to be an outdoor auditorium.”
The farm is now in the process of expansion and hopes to serve as a framework for the future of community-based agriculture both in California and around the globe.
