St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is a leader among medical centers in growing fresh produce on its campus, says Civil Eats. The farm opened in 2014 and doubled in size to 10 acres this year, with 30 varieties of fruits and vegetables. St. Luke’s gives a basket of fresh produce to new mothers when they leave the hospital. The food also is incorporated into meals for patients and those sold in the cafeteria. Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island, and Watertown Regional Medical Center in Wisconsin, also have launched farms on their grounds.
St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor Hospital in Ypsilanti, Michigan, started with five acres in 2010 and now has a 25-acre operation that includes three hoop houses and four beehives. “We can’t grow enough to meet the needs of all of our patients and staff, but we can make an educational statement about the importance of eating a healthy diet,” the hospital’s director of nutrition told Civil Eats.
Operating a hospital-based farm, like other farms, “is not without its challenges. For starters, administrators are experts in health care, not agriculture,” says Civil Eats. St. Luke’s hopes to break even on its farm in 2016. St. Joseph Mercy hired a full-time farmer to manage its farm and relies on interns and volunteers to provide most of the labor. Hospitals also have to develop recipes for their locally grown food and train the kitchen staff in how to prepare them.