Artist Rendering of Future Coffee Orchard
Two Whittier College professors are taking initial steps to break ground on a coffee orchard located in the middle of campus. The goal is to produce locally grown sustainable coffee while teaching the next generation of urban farmers.
The project, titled Golden State Brew, aims to bring together several narratives—agricultural, ecological, cultural, and historic—that have converged in what may be the state’s next agricultural gold rush: growing sustainable coffee.
“We are very excited to see this project come to life as we move forward to providing not only a new resource for the community, but also a great learning opportunity for students, who will be helping each step of the way,” said Associate Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Cinzia Fissore who, along with Associate Professor of History Natale Zappia, is spearheading the innovating endeavor.
Through their research, Fissore and Zappia learned that intercropping coffee with avocados yields agricultural and economic benefits and can improve soil quality. They also discovered the campus once housed hundreds of avocado trees, and wanted to revive this agricultural past.
Coffee is a relatively new addition to Southern California’s agricultural landscape and is an emerging enterprise. Being a part of this coffee renaissance places Whittier at the forefront of the sustainability movement. The campus will be a pioneer in this area of coffee research and urban agricultural training.
Fissore and Zappia are also working closely with former student Stephanie Alcala ’15, a sustainability supervisor for Coffee Manufactory, a new sustainable coffee roasting company that is part of the San Francisco-based Tartine Group. Alcala will bring her coffee expertise to the project—she received a master’s degree from the University of Michigan in ecology and evolutionary biology frontiers and traveled to Panama to further study coffee genetics—and will act as a liaison between the College and the Los Angeles coffee industry.
Urban gardening has been present on campus for several years. Fissore and Zappia, along with Associate Professor of Sociology Sal Johnston, oversee the College’s Sustainable Urban Farm (SUrF) learning laboratory.
