Black Urban Farmers Association Crop Plan
Faculty Mentor Name
Tierra Smithson
Abstract
The Black Urban Farmers Association (BUFA) has been helping meet the food insecurity needs of Stockton for the last 11 years. As the operation expanded, a need was uncovered for a planting plan to make running the farm more effective. This project focused on building a planting plan that is accessible and includes a set of instructions for how to understand and use the plan properly. The project began with identifying and researching all the different crops BUFA grows, the planting seasons, seeding requirements, and the suppliers. With this information, pre-existing but complex crop plans could be updated for clarity and accuracy. To ensure the updated planting plan is accessible, easy to follow instructions were created to be paired with the resource. Each column on the spreadsheet is now explained in detail so that anyone using it can understand what to do, the information they are looking at, and even how to find other information that may be needed. This spring, BUFA used the updated planting plan for the first time. It resulted in getting the crops in the ground earlier than past years, and to effectively plan what beds need to be cleared to ensure proper crop rotation and labor allocation.
Location
DeRosa University Center, University of the Pacific
Start Date
24-4-2026 4:00 PM
End Date
24-4-2026 4:10 PM
Black Urban Farmers Association Crop Plan
DeRosa University Center, University of the Pacific
The Black Urban Farmers Association (BUFA) has been helping meet the food insecurity needs of Stockton for the last 11 years. As the operation expanded, a need was uncovered for a planting plan to make running the farm more effective. This project focused on building a planting plan that is accessible and includes a set of instructions for how to understand and use the plan properly. The project began with identifying and researching all the different crops BUFA grows, the planting seasons, seeding requirements, and the suppliers. With this information, pre-existing but complex crop plans could be updated for clarity and accuracy. To ensure the updated planting plan is accessible, easy to follow instructions were created to be paired with the resource. Each column on the spreadsheet is now explained in detail so that anyone using it can understand what to do, the information they are looking at, and even how to find other information that may be needed. This spring, BUFA used the updated planting plan for the first time. It resulted in getting the crops in the ground earlier than past years, and to effectively plan what beds need to be cleared to ensure proper crop rotation and labor allocation.
