Peckham Farm is home to a variety of livestock including beef/dairy cattle, sheep, goats, swine, and poultry. The farm and its animals housed are used for research, teaching, and extension programs. The farm is roughly 20 acres, with 18 of it being pasture. All animal handling and the use of animal handling areas requires prior approval with the Farm Manager, Coleman Replogie (creplogie@uri.edu).
University of Rhode Island Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) requires animal protocols to be approved prior to commencing, submitted to the farm manager for filing, and displayed at the animal handling area. To ensure proper biosecurity practices, the farm manager oversees the introduction of all new animals to the farm. All new animals must have the relevant permits and health certificates and be associated with an approved IACUC protocol prior to their arrival. Users traveling to or working on other farms must wear separate clothing and footwear or properly sanitize their clothing and footwear before returning to the farm.
All veterinary pharmaceuticals brought onto a farm must be approved by the farm manager, URI’s academic veterinarian, or practicing veterinarian. Pharmaceuticals are subject to inspection by the University of Rhode Island IACUC.
URI’s Greenhouse facility totals 15,500 square feet in usable space, including the 2,100 square foot Horridge Conservatory. The greenhouse cost center can accommodate specific needs including supplemental lighting, shade cloth, whitewash, and special protocols; greenhouse space is assigned to priority users based on those needs. An adjacent growth chamber facility provides four environmental growth chambers and four incubators for highly controlled experimental environments, including temperature, light, humidity, and CO2 manipulation. Three of the incubators are housed within URI’s USDA certified biological control containment facility and are available to trained personnel with projects requiring use of the containment facility. Contact: Tim Sherman (timothy_sherman@uri.edu).
The Gardner Research Center (Agronomy Farm) has approximately 85 acres of land for research and education in vegetable and grain production. 40 acres are used to grow forage for the animals at Peckham Farm, with 15 in organic production. About 4 acres are certified organic. There are an additional 25 acres of fields protected by deer fencing and 4 acres of unfenced land. There are 8 high tunnels, a heated poly-house, and two weather stations. Contact: Tim Sherman (timothy_sherman@uri.edu).
East Farm contains roughly 85 acres of meadows, forests, orchards, greenhouses, and fish tank laboratories. East Farm is located a mile from the Kingston campus on Route 108 and is adjacent to Audubon Society property, making it ideal for bird and wildlife habitat research. The farm currently has a crabapple tree orchard, pollinator habitat, fish rearing facilities and fisheries outreach, integrated pest management capabilities, and demonstration gardens and greenhouses run by URI Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners. Contact: Tim Sherman (timothy_sherman@uri.edu).