BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY

 
A weekly publication for the BGSU community

(Left to right) Amy Hoops, quality assurance and purchasing coordinator, Lois Serfozo, assistant general manager, and Gail Finan, University Dining Services director with a bowl of Red Fire lettuce grown in the hoop house.

Cucumbers, green peppers, melons and sweet corn are among the locally grown produce University Dining Services (UDS) brought to dining centers across campus last summer. Now the University has become part of a pilot project to grow fresh vegetables locally during the winter in “hoop houses,” which are similar to greenhouses but use almost no energy or heat.

Red Fire lettuce grown in a hoop house at Bittersweet Farms in Whitehouse was delivered last week to the Bowling Greenery. The project was funded through a grant from the Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT). “We’re very excited that this technology is available in northwest Ohio,” said Amy Hoops, quality assurance and purchasing coordinator for dining services. “This is a way to feed people in our area at a very low energy cost.”

The new technology could extend the University’s ability to serve fresh, locally grown food year ‘round. In the summer, “when produce is at its best in Ohio, we have few students,” Hoops said.
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