Akila Ganapathi
Spring 2021
This semester, I had the opportunity to do my community partnership with the Berkeley Student Farms (specifically the Student Organic Garden Association). I worked on a community composting project in which we aimed to expand community composting operations at the student gardens. I was responsible for working with a team to regularly create new compost piles and maintain those piles by flipping them weekly. One of the goals of the project was to come up with a more scientific approach to conduct the composting so we tracked the weights of the inputs (food scraps brought by student volunteers, coffee grounds, wood shavings, etc.) going into each pile. Overall, I had a great experience working with the Berkeley Student Farms and overseeing the composting operations! This experience made me realize how valuable a closed-loop system of food production is and how we can minimize our food waste as individuals by composting.