UAF donated more than 2.5 tons of fresh produce

October 30, 2020

The Georgeson Botanical Garden, in collaboration with the UAF Office of Sustainability's Nanook Grown program and the Vegetable Variety Trials program, donated more than 5,500 pounds of fresh produce to food distribution centers in Fairbanks during the summer. Recipients included the Fairbanks Community Food Bank, The Bread Line and the UAF Food Pantry.

Georgeson garden manager Katie DiCristina shows participants in the Nanook Grown program how to harvest kale. UAF photo by JR Ancheta.

The garden was used as an outdoor classroom for teaching students how to grow their food. Students with the Nanook Grown program gardened at the botanical garden and in the university's community garden.

The vegetable variety trials are federally funded research to determine which current varieties grow best. They take place at experiment farms in Fairbanks and in Palmer.