What We Do
The Duke Campus Farm is a one-acre working farm owned and operated by Duke University that provides sustainably-grown produce and food systems education for Duke and its surrounding communities. More important than the thousands of pounds of food that we grow, however, are the opportunities the farm provides for engaging and reimagining the ways we cultivate, access, value, and think about food. Our mission is to catalyze positive change in the food system.
The farm runs year-round curricular and co-curricular programming, open community workdays, and educational workshops - both on campus and at our farm in the Duke Forest - all while growing produce to donate to our partner organizations who are leading food security efforts in Durham. Each year, the farm hires students across undergraduate and graduate levels and from various disciplinary backgrounds at Duke to support daily farm operations, engage in weekly farm curriculum, facilitate community workdays, and grow and harvest the produce distributed to our partners and community.
The Duke Campus Farm is proud to teach credit-bearing courses that engage traditional teachings and experiential learning. Through programs like Duke Immerse, Duke Engage, and Bass Connections, the farm works with faculty and students across wide-ranging disciplines to create a dynamic teaching space and bridge the gap between the farm and the classroom.
Undergraduate, graduate and professional school students can get involved with the Duke Campus Farm by volunteering at a Community Workday, working and learning as part of our farm crew, proposing on-farm research in any discipline or signing up for one of our course offerings or workshops.
Learn more about our program in our most recent annual report:
2023 Annual Report
Why We Do It
DCF’s aim has never been to grow all the food for Duke’s dining halls or to train future agricultural specialists. Rather, we are a “big tent” organization that tries to inspire the widest possible audience to create positive change in the food system, and to bring a critical food systems lens to the ways they work and live. We hope those who engage with the farm come away with new understandings of what it takes to grow food, with renewed relationships with the land and each other, and with new opportunities to consider the ways we cultivate, access, value, and think about food.