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Student farm helps breaksalsa recordAre green goals being met? Newcourse evaluates sustainability projectsWhen projects are developed to reduce pollution and conservenatural resources, what performance metrics are considered in designingand funding them? After such projects are implemented, how areassessments made to ensure the goals are being met and to identifypotential improvements? That’s the topic for a new course in theDepartment of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences.“Sustainability Metrics and Assessment Techniques” is being taughtby Warren Lavey and Jody Endres. NRES undergraduates ClaireGrogan, Jordan Williams, and Rachel Lauter helped prepare materialsfor the course.“We will use projects funded by U of I’s Student SustainabilityCommittee as case studies to apply analytical frameworks such as life -cycle analysis and accounting for direct and indirect environmental andenergy effects,” Lavey said. “The projects include the sustainable studentfarm, solar energy systems, energy-efficiency retrofits of buildings,energy control systems for buildings, LED lighting, water-conservationequipment, and programs to reduce petroleum usage in transportation.”Among the projects to be evaluated are solar energy panels andplantings on the roof of the Business Instructional Facility. In 2009, theCollege of Business building received the highest rating of platinum inthe U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification, an internationalstandard for green buildings.The course topics are important, Endres said, because decisionmakers should be equipped to assess the impacts of projects that havebeen implemented and to apply this experience in selecting, designing,and funding new ones.“Once a project is in full swing, project managers must deployassessment and feedback mechanisms to evaluate its effectiveness inmeeting the stated goals. The biggest challenge is training people toconduct and review evaluations and to communicate those results tostakeholders.”U of I students set a Guinness World Record for the largestbatch of salsa while highlighting locally grown produce, someprovided by the university’s Sustainable Student Farm.The massive batch of salsa, assembled at the university’s Augustnew-student convocation at Memorial Stadium, weighed in at6,840 pounds. This beat the previous record of 5,868 pounds heldby an organization in Spain.The student farm, part of the Department of Crop Sciences,provided 1,200 pounds of tomatoes, 20 pounds of jalapeños,and 200 pounds of onions for the salsa, according to Zack Grant,a research specialist in crop sciences and manager of the farm.The farm has an ongoing relationship with University Hous ing,providing produce to dining services nine months of the year.Grant said students began harvesting the tomatoes on the farmjust south of campus two days before the new-student event.“That was just what we were able to harvest that week,” Grant said.Bruce Branham, a crop sciences professor who oversees thefarm, said that cool temperatures in July slowed the developmentof the tomato crop. “It’s kind of instructive regarding locally basedfood systems. On one hand you have greater food security growingyour own food, but sometimes you have to make other plans.”“For something made in such a large quantity, the salsaturned out quite delicious,” said Dawn Aubrey, associate directorof hous ing dining services. Part of what wasn’t eaten that day wasdivided among the campus dining units to be frozen and used lateras a base for chili.A Guinness World Records judicator was present for thepreparation, assembly, and serving of the salsa and presentedU of I with a certificate for the record-breaking batch.Visit thefarm.illinois.edu for more about the SustainableStudent Farm.ACES@Illinois Winter 20147