MTSU Small Farm certified organic produce is a hit at Murfreesboro Saturday Market

Middle Tennessee State University professor Song Cui, left, and MTSU Small Farm students Tyler Lansford, Harlan “Dallas” Rogers and Hannah Harrell prepare to greet customers wanting tomatoes, okra and other certified organic produce being sold Oct. 12 at the Murfreesboro Saturday Market at the Rutherford County Courthouse in downtown Murfreesboro, Tenn. (MTSU photo by Cat Curtis Murphy)

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — There’s still time to get your certified organic cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes and even cut flowers from the MTSU Small Farm at the Murfreesboro Saturday Market.

Led by Middle Tennessee State University professor Song Cui, the student-driven, growing-to-selling project has been a spring, summer and fall sensation in the inner circle at the Rutherford County Courthouse in downtown Murfreesboro.

From left, Middle Tennessee State University student Hannah Harrell, professor Song Cui and students Tyler Lansford and Harlan “Dallas” Rogers provide certified organic produce for the buying public Oct. 12 at the Murfreesboro Saturday Market. The MTSU Small Farm group provides produce at the market during the spring, summer and fall months and will return Oct. 19 and Oct. 26 as the season winds to a close. (MTSU photo by Cat Curtis Murphy)

The Saturday market, which runs from the first Saturday in May through the last Saturday in October, continues from 8 a.m. to noon Oct. 19 and Oct. 26. On many Saturdays, if milk production allows, the MTSU Creamery brings its popular chocolate and white milk to the market.

Dr. Song Cui, professor of agriculture — Dr. Song Cui

“We have generated a lot of public relations,” said Cui (pronounced CHOY). “We have many customers coming to us for our certified produce on the square and everyone loves our produce.”

Cui said tomatoes and figs are the most popular crops, but pepper, eggplant, okra, lettuce, spinach, chard and zucchini are also available.

MTSU senior plant and soil science major Tyler Lansford of Chattanooga emerged as the leader for more than 10 students (some paid student workers and some volunteers), Cui said.

Collecting a small basket of bell peppers for a customer at the Murfreesboro Saturday Market on Oct. 12 at the Rutherford County Courthouse in downtown Murfreesboro, Tenn., Middle Tennessee State University senior plant and soil science major Tyler Lansford has emerged as the leader for more than 10 students in the MTSU Small Farm program. The group will be at the market Oct. 19 and Oct. 26 and plans to return next year. (MTSU photo by Cat Curtis Murphy)

The MTSU Small Farm, which joined the Saturday market part-time in 2023 and elevated to full-time status this year, plans to return in 2025. It earned top honors at the Wilson County/Tennessee State Fair this summer and helped sponsor the 2024 Charity Chopped in the ’Boro by supplying certified organic produce to the chefs.

The initial funds for starting the MTSU Small Farm Program came from U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service urban agriculture grants funded in 2022.

Lansford has taken a job working for USDA-NRCS. Chris Hall, an MTSU plant and soil science major who graduated two years ago, will begin overseeing student workers.

“Since the establishment of the MTSU Small Farm,” Cui said, “we have provided hands-on learning opportunities to hundreds of students on campus, conduced project/team-based learning activities in six courses offered in the Plant and Soil Science program and hosted more than 30 farm tours/visits within the past two years based off less than one acre of intensive vegetable, fruit, and cut-flower production.

Learn more about the MTSU Small Farm by visiting its Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/mtsusmallfarm/.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)