Elon raised most of its own pork, beef and dairy for the dining halls in the 1900s, and with the acquisition of land and equipment in 1919, the Elon College farm began to run. However, the farming operations didn’t meet expectations so the trustees voted to sell the farm. In 1939, Smith convinced the trustees to approve his recommendation to return to farming to reduce the dining hall’s food costs. In 1940, a donation from trustee Oscar F. Smith allowed the college to purchase a 150-acre farm from Reverend James O. Atkinson. The farm was two miles north of the college. Elon bought another 60-acre farm and hired a full-time farm worker and four students to assist the farm overseer, Zebulon H. Lynch. This farm was eventually sold the Atkinson farm in October 1974.
