Duke Campus Farm Internship

Timeline

2025

Description

Affiliated programs: Green Devils Intern Program, Duke Campus Farm

Summary 

These Green Devils joined the Duke Campus Farm’s student field crew for an academic year, working alongside ~10 other field crew members and 4 full-time staff. They contributed significantly to the Farm’s mission of “catalyzing positive change in the food system”, through diverse avenues like cultivating crops on the Farm’s acre (6-8 hrs/week), organizing
educational and social events on- and off-campus (on average 2 hrs/week), and facilitating field education through leading volunteers during weekly Community Work Days. They also worked to restart the farm’s Community Supported Agriculture program for 2026.

Goals

1) Grow and provide produce for the Durham and Duke community.
2) Regenerate the land and the communities around it.
3) Build a community between DCF, Duke students, and Durham.

Experience and Learning Outcomes

This project was part of the year-long, paid Green Devils internship program managed by the Office of Climate and Sustainability. The interns’ role on the Duke Campus farm was a combination of farming and programming. During farm shifts, they performed various tasks such as broad forking, weeding, bed prep, harvesting, and planting, all alongside other crew members. These tasks taught them the nuances of small-scale, regenerative farming and built practical skills. During Friday PM shifts, the interns led Community Work Days, where they taught out various farm tasks to students and community members and learned how to engage and educate volunteers with wide-ranging experiences with farming/hands-on work. They learned to deliver the DCF engagement overview, and by the end of the year were equipped with the facts, stories, and communication skills to effectively engage large audiences about the farm. On a rotating basis with other crew, each intern was responsible for weekend watering of crops 5+ times per semester, which taught them the importance of daily watering and monitoring for keeping agricultural plants alive. 

The interns also spent a sizable portion of their working hours on programming, unlike other field crew. Their tasks included making shopping lists with a budget for events, planning activities, making and posting flyers around campus, and tabling on BC Plaza. Events they contributed significantly to include From the Ground Up talks, Contra Dances, and Winterfest. During events, they learned to be adaptable and quick-thinking, performing various tasks such as preparing & serving food, directing parking, photography, sound set-up, and general set-up/takedown. The programming side of DCF taught the interns how to connect with large, diverse audiences from across Duke and Durham, and be both reliable and inventive with events. By the end of the school year, both interns had the opportunity to incorporate their strengths, academics interests, and extracurricular activities into events which made them more meaningful. 

Recommendations

The interns recommend obtaining accessible transportation to and from the farm for Community Work Days and events to encourage more Duke students, especially undergraduates, to come learn at the farm. "It would also make Community Work Days more organized because more people would show up at the same time," shares one intern.

Student Interns: Joseph Yan and Faith Hochman

Intern Supervisor: Isabelle Brace, Field Education Manager for Duke Campus Farm