{"id":110412,"date":"2026-08-28T11:21:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T11:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=110412"},"modified":"2026-08-28T11:21:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T11:21:54","slug":"uri-grown-fresh-free-produce-available-at-no-cost-for-uri-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2026\/08\/uri-grown-fresh-free-produce-available-at-no-cost-for-uri-students\/","title":{"rendered":"URI-grown fresh, free produce available at no cost for URI students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Aug. 28, 2026 \u2013 The University of Rhode Island\u2019s annual Free Farmers Market for students opens Thursday, Sept. 10<\/strong>, kicking off another season of fresh, free produce harvested from URI farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The market takes place every Thursday on the Quad from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and outside of Mackal-Tootell (near the Ryan Center) from 2:30 to 4 p.m. through Oct. 29. Both locations offer free produce to URI students (while supplies last). On bad-weather days, the market moves inside to Fogarty Hall and Tootell Aquatic Center.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Veggies picked at URI\u2019s on-campus Teaching Garden by students like Abbey Lanier \u201925, a recent Nutrition graduate, give the Rhody student community a healthy boost on Thursdays this fall. (URI Photos \/ Nora Lewis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Follow @URIfreefarmersmarket<\/a> or see the Free Farmers Market website<\/a> for additional bonus pick-up locations to celebrate the market\u2019s fall kickoff on Sept. 10, and receive ongoing news and updates during the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

URI grown<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veggies and fruits offered at the weekly market are grown by students in URI\u2019s plant sciences program at the Gardiner Crops Research Center on the edge of campus. As a land-grant university, food production is part of URI\u2019s curriculum and exemplifies a pillar of URI\u2019s land-grant mission<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

URI is one of only a few New England colleges that provide this kind of free, homegrown market. Farm-to-table turnaround is less than 24 hours, with farm-fresh produce gathered on Wednesdays and distributed to students on Thursdays. Last year, the farm yielded more than 10,000 pounds of produce, shared with approximately 2,000 students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peckham Farm contributes farm fresh eggs and URI Master Gardeners coordinate the harvest of apples from East Farm. Kelli Kidd, Amanda Missimer and Rebecca Brown coordinate the Farmers Market program with support from student volunteers and managers, URI Health Promotion, the Department of Nutrition, Cooperative Extension, and the URI Vegetable Production Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All URI students are welcome to visit the market and are encouraged to bring a reusable shopping bag. Volunteers and interns are also welcome<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Aug. 28, 2026 \u2013 The University of Rhode Island\u2019s annual Free Farmers Market for students opens Thursday, Sept. 10, kicking off another season of fresh, free produce harvested from URI farms. The market takes place every Thursday on the Quad from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and outside of Mackal-Tootell (near the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":110415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5,1906,1914,1903,1902,1915],"class_list":["post-110412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-the-environment-and-life-sciences","tag-experiential-learning","tag-graduate","tag-health-and-wellness","tag-student-engagement","tag-undergraduate"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110412"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110417,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110412\/revisions\/110417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}