In the spring of 2021, Chasidy Hobbs, a faculty member in the Earth and Environmental Sciences department at UWF, created Argos’ Edible Campus. The program helps to combat food insecurity on campus, one tree at a time.

 As co-director of the UWF Community Garden, Hobbs and multiple student volunteers plant beautiful and edible landscapes in an area of campus that was previously overgrown and used for debris disposal. 

“The Argos’ Edible Campus program provides access to fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables across campus, free for any student to harvest,” said Hobbs. “I found the seeds for the Argos’ Edible Campus program while working with Dr. Greg Tomso and thousands of students at the UWF Community Garden over the past decade. I recently learned just how many of our fabulous UWF students require the services of the Argo Pantry and I decided to plant those seeds.”

In addition to Argos’ Edible Campus, the Argo Pantry and the UWF Community Garden are working together to respond to food insecurity on campus. 

“Since the Argo Pantry provides largely non-perishable food, Argos’ Edible Campus is designed to supplement the lack of produce available to food-insecure students,” UWF student and Argos’ Edible Campus volunteer Cody Morton said. 

As the garden continues to grow, students can monitor the Argos’ Edible Campus story map to see when particular fruits, nuts and vegetables will be ready to harvest. Since the program is new, the harvest is not large, but it is sure to grow more every year. By the spring of 2022, the program plans to expand the number of trees and bushes by a few hundred.

“Because we are such a new program right now, we have not participated in many events on or off campus, but we were the Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering spotlight program for Convocation this year,” UWF student and Argos’ Edible Campus volunteer Monica Woodruff said. “We may add fruits and nuts from our trees to some of the garden giveaways the UWF Community Garden does.” 

Argos’ Edible Campus also has other produce giveaways and future events in the works.

Although Argos’ Edible Campus is open to everyone at UWF, the program mostly aims to empower food-insecure students at UWF by helping them take their nutrition back into their own hands.

“We also hope to destigmatize food insecurity by normalizing conversations between students when they see a new fruit tree by the Commons and ask a friend if they know what it’s about,” Morton said. 

Volunteers are always welcome to get involved with the garden throughout the year and help expand the Argos’ Edible Campus’ greenery in the spring. Donations are also accepted through a link that can be found in the story map. 

“Argo’s Edible Campus is a great way to work closely with faculty and staff [of the university] and contribute to something tangible for all students to enjoy,” Morton said.

The Argo Pantry is in Building 18 Room 150B. Students can find more information on the Argos’ Edible Campus website or follow Argos’ Edible Campus on Instagram @argosediblecampus. Students can also monitor the Argos’ Edible Campus story map for harvest time.

Students in need of assistance can freely use the Argo Pantry Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.