Reductions in Student Self-reported Perceived Stress after a One-hour Campus Farm Tour

College students report using negative or non-effective behaviors to cope with personal, social, and academic stress that differ from mental health professional recommendations to meditate, exercise, and journal. Although the benefits of active and passive interactions with nature to reduce stress have been extensively documented, green spaces are underutilized. This study explores the role of campus farms as greenspaces that can be leveraged for both learning and stress reduction through passive, short-term course activities. Researchers quantified the impact of a one-hour campus farm tour on six metrics of self-reported perceived stress in 85 undergraduate and graduate students through pre- and post-tour surveys. There was a significant reduction in all metrics from pre-to-post farm tour in the fall semester (p<0.0001), but not the spring semester (p>0.05). Students reported significantly greater panic and nervous energy prior to the fall tour than the spring (P<0.05) and spring tours showed less decrease in agitation, impatience, and irritability (p>0.05). Mediating effects of pre-tour and post-tour stress are hypothesized to be academic level and weather, respectively. Even required, passive engagement with campus green spaces, such as campus farms, can mitigate student stress however, bodily comfort and weather may mitigate the impact of greenspace interactions on stress. Keywords: campus farm, perceived stress, mental health, nature, weather