Description: Guilford College is home to a self-sustaining campus farm that currently includes 3 acres of cultivated land, including 5,000 square feet of high tunnel, and serves as both a learning laboratory and supplier of fresh produce to the greater Guilford community (over 10,000 lbs. of produce annually). In conjunction with plans for a new facility to house the school’s new Sustainable Food Systems (SFS) curricular program, BODHI created a farm master plan and SFS facility conceptual design to strategically guide future improvements and provide marketing material for fundraising. Specific project elements included:

• Existing conditions assessment and review of available site data (GIS soils/topography/ground cover, campus facility plans, utility as-builts)
• Water management planning, including existing irrigation demand analysis and cistern optimization modeling for rainwater harvesting, several stormwater BMP retrofits to help mitigate both off-site and onsite runoff concerns (e.g., outfall erosion and an actively degrading stream channel)
• Incorporation of various perennial agriculture models, including Keyline-based alley cropping, mixed silvopastures, selective thinning of existing woodland for priority species, and guild-based orchards along high-access edges
• Farm access layout
• SFS curriculum building floor plan diagrams and perspective renderings
• Integration of existing site uses, including an 18-hole disc golf course, community garden, campus composting facility, farm manager residence, and farm intern housing.