Learning from the dirt: initiating university food gardens as a cross-disciplinary tertiary teaching tool

Food gardens are an underdeveloped resource for teaching and research in Australian universities. While some campuses have food or botanical gardens, outside the biological or physical sciences food growing is not routinely incorporated into mainstream curricula. This article investigates why and how we might change this. It examines universities’ traditional reliance on classroom-based, non-experiential learning, which preferences reading and writing over doing, particularly doing anything outdoors. Questions are raised about the implications of this approach for environmental education and graduate environmental literacy. The article then explores the example that United States campus food gardens provide other universities, as well as the process of creating food gardens for teaching and research at a high-density campus in Sydney, Australia. The article ends by postulating lessons students and staff might learn about food systems, sustainability and green cities, when food growing is incorporated into teaching and research. The article aims to inspire academic staff, particularly outside the biological sciences, to instigate campus food gardens to increase graduate environmental literacy.