The Student Organic Gardening Association (SOGA) is a democratic association of UC Berkeley Students committed to food justice, sustainable organic agriculture, and experiential learning. The Student Organic Garden, located just off the edge of campus on the corner of Walnut Street and Virginia Street, belongs to UC Berkeley, but the space has been managed by undergraduate students since its foundation in 1971.
Mission Statement
The Student Organic Garden Association (SOGA) is a transparent and non-discriminatory student-led organization that prioritizes coalition building, systematic inclusion, and equitable distribution of fruit and land through collective action and resistance. Our mission is to establish continuity of maintenance and support for The Student Organic Garden year round in order to provide a creative thriving safe-space for hands-on education and food justice for the Bay area community.
The garden is an educational space designed for the community to share knowledge about organic urban agriculture and self-sufficiency in the food system. This type of experiential learning takes place during open volunteer hours, workshops, and DeCals (student-run courses at Cal) which focus on teaching Bay-area residents everything from basic organic garden skills to land acknowledgment. SOGA is funded primarily through grants from generous organizations, so we rely on generous donations from the public to continue operations (Thank you!). Our goal is to prioritize BI-POC, LGBTQ+, and DSP leadership, and build alliances between marginalized community members inside and outside of the Cal community.