Stonehill is looking to continue to grow the farm

By Kyla Smulski   

After the director of Stonehill’s farm left earlier this year, the College is looking to make some changes to the school program and how it can continue to help educate students.  

Laurie Mooney left her job as the farm manager this year to pursue a PhD in Agroforestry, and Peter Ubertaccio, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, said the position is currently vacant. 

“At some point, we plan to look for someone to oversee, but we have no specific timeline,” he said of the farm. 

In preparation for the change, Mooney planted “cover crops” last spring to encourage the soil to remain healthy with higher nitrogen levels. 

Cover crops are non-harvested plants that are intentionally grown to enrich and protect the soil.  

In addition, the 2025 growing season remained fallow to help improve the soil. A fallow field is a field that is left un-planted for one or more growing seasons.  

“We are letting the ground heal for the year. When you have a farm, you typically rotate crops, so the soil stays healthy. We are using the year to let the ground regain its health,” Ubertaccio said. 

Because no crops were planted this year, the farm will not be able to supply food to Easton food pantries and other community partner organizations, such as My Brother’s Keeper, and The Old Colony YMCA David Jon Louison Center.  

When asked if opportunities like Farm Fridays, research projects, and class visits will be impacted, Ubertaccio said “Some opportunities will be temporarily impacted, but there are still a lot that others can learn from the farm.”  

Students can still use the farm for projects, such as trail camera tracking, and wildlife research projects.  

Kristin C. Burkholder, the Associate Dean of the May School of Arts and Sciences, said the farm was designed to help the community.  

“The history of the farm is that it spun up out of the mission division back when we had a mission division. So, a really important outcome of the farm has been that we grow produce that we then donate to places like My Brother's Keeper and food pantries to help deal with some of the hunger issues in our surrounding communities. That is sort of the origin but certainly always also supported the environmental department in terms of curricular offerings,” she said. 

Some students said they were disappointed some programs will not be available this year, but they are excited to see what the future holds.  

“When I was a freshman, we came here for my environmental intro class, and we learned about the bees that are used to harvest honey on campus, which are sold, and the profits are typically used to benefit multiple communities,” said senior Erin Stevenson, an environmental studies major.

“We also learned about the produce that was sold and donated to local communities so that SNAP benefits can be taken advantage of on a larger scale. There are a lot of educational opportunities at the farm, and I am sad some of these things won’t be available this year, but I am excited for students next year to be able to experience the benefits the farm provides to our community," Stevenson said. 

Fellow environmental studies major, Mathew Bower, a junior at Stonehill, shared a similar sentiment.  

“One of my experiences at the farm was when we did a get together for the environmental majors. The farm is a very good resource for environmental students, and you know, biology students and all that. It also can be very useful for people outside of that field just to come here and experience what it's like to be, you know, at the farm. I hope that they are able to find a new director soon so new students can have this experience,” he said.