Farm & Garden Projects Continued
The Farm & Garden Today: The Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems
The Farm and Garden presaged what would become the current movement in organic farming and sustainable agriculture. By 1980, concerns over conventional agriculture’s impacts on soil and groundwater, the development of pesticide-resistant "super pests," and a growing interest in organic farming made the Farm and Garden’s activities relevant to a broader audience. In response, UCSC’s Environmental Studies Board proposed a new program in agroecology, the application of ecological principles to agricultural settings, with the Farm and Garden as the program’s on-campus headquarters.
Led by professor of agroecology Stephen Gliessman, who joined the Environmental Studies faculty in 1981, the new Agroecology Program attracted enormous interest and substantial funding from sources such as California’s Environmental License Plate Fund, the Columbia Foundation, and the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund. Said Gliessman of the new effort,
"The underlying principle of our work is to understand better the ecological processes of natural ecosystems and apply our findings to what are largely manipulative agricultural systems. There is a tremendous need and opportunity to develop and promote agricultural practices that are environmentally sensible, economically feasible, and socially responsible." (19)
The Agroecology Program was the first UC project to focus on what would come to be known as "sustainable" agriculture systems, and to pursue research on organic production techniques. In 1983, Alfred E. Heller funded UCSC’s first endowed chair, creating a chair in agroecology which Gliessman continues to hold. In 1984, thanks in part to the efforts of grant writer Kay Thornley, the Agroecology Program received ongoing state funding.
In 1993, following the recommendation of an external review committee, the Agroecology Program’s name was changed to the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems to reflect the Center’s dual interests in both environmental and social aspects of sustainable agriculture.
Today the Center, directed by agroecologist Dr. Carol Shennan, conducts a multi-faceted research, education, and community outreach effort. Research staff and faculty work with farmers in the region to develop more sustainable growing techniques. Center members interested in agriculture’s social aspects have encouraged the agriculture community to consider such issues as food security, gender equity, and workers’ rights as part of a sustainable food and agriculture system. A new graduate program in Environmental Studies includes a focus on agroecology and sustainable agriculture. The Center’s international work brings researchers, extension agents, and graduate students from around the world to learn about agroecology and sustainable farming.
The Farm and the Alan Chadwick Garden continue to attract four to five thousand visitors a year to see examples of organic soil management, alternative pest control measures, water conservation, and biodiversity on both home garden and commercial scales. Faculty and students use the sites for classes and research efforts, while Center staff and apprentices maintain and develop the projects as flourishing demonstrations of what can be accomplished "working with, rather than overpowering nature." Thanks to the efforts of those that followed him, Chadwick’s vision has evolved and found fertile ground at UC Santa Cruz.
The Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture
"[Chadwick’s] manner of teaching was the simple, classical one of combining practicality and vision. He would first demonstrate how to do something, and then put the student to work doing the same thing," writes author and former apprentice Robert Howard.
The "apprenticeship" teaching style became the model for the current Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture. Offered through the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems and UCSC Extension, this full-time, six-month program serves an international group of 35 to 40 participants with a broad range of backgrounds and interests. The course provides intensive training in the basic techniques participants need to start their own organic farms or market gardens, run school and community garden projects, work in horticultural therapy, or teach in overseas development programs. Credit is available through UCSC Extension. Each year, five undergraduate students in the Environmental Studies Department take part in the Apprenticeship to complement their regular coursework.
The Apprenticeship blends hands-on learning with a more traditional scholastic approach of lectures and small-group discussions. Students spend approximately 200 hours in the classroom, in small group classes in the field, and on field trips designed to broaden their exposure to different aspects of sustainable agriculture. Topics range from soil science, botany, and entomology to more specifics courses including compost production, irrigation, weed and pest management, tree crops, apiculture, farm equipment, seed saving, crop planning, and marketing strategies. Other classes cover such areas as community land trusts, rural development, and social issues in sustainable agriculture.
Apprentices apply their theoretical knowledge during more than 700 hours of hands-on work. As they manage the cropping cycle from seed planting to harvest, apprentices learn the nuts and bolts of gardening and farming. They build compost piles, prepare garden beds, evaluate soil fertility, set up irrigation systems, make sowing mixes, plant out and cultivate crops. They also learn how to recognize and manage disease and pest problems, make a cropping plan, choose appropriate equipment, care for fruit trees, and much more.
Since the Garden’s founding, more than 800 apprentices have learned to cultivate plants in harmony with nature, without the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This international group has spread small-scale, intensive organic techniques to countries around the world, in settings that range from South African townships to villages in rural Nepal to inner city gardens in the U.S. Apprenticeship graduates have started their own farms and market gardens, and work in urban agriculture, nursery production, horticultural therapy, garden-based education, overseas development projects, and community food security efforts. Apprentice course graduate Franz Muhl, now working in his native South Africa, says that, "The Apprenticeship has inspired many individuals to go out and start projects that nurture our planet and its inhabitants."
Notes
- Ann Lindsey, News & Notes of the UCSC Farm & Garden, Issue 76, Winter 1997.
- Carolyn Reynolds Ortiz, from an interview with Page Smith. News & Notes of the UCSC Farm & Garden, Issue 67, Fall 1995, p 10.
- UCSC Farm & Garden: 25 Years and Beyond. Video produced and written by Carolyn Reynolds-Ortiz, 1992.
- "UCSC's first years: an alumnus remembers," an interview with Anthony J. Mohr, in Currents Online, University of California, Santa Cruz. July 19, 1999.
- Robert Howard, What Makes the Crops Rejoice: An Introduction to Gardening. 1986. Boston: Little, Brown.
- Page Smith, News & Notes of the UCSC Farm & Garden Project, Issue 16, July 1980, p1.
- Robert Howard, What Makes the Crops Rejoice: An Introduction to Gardening. 1986. Boston: Little, Brown.
- Louise Cain, News & Notes of the UCSC Farm & Garden Project, Issue 17, September 1980
- Garden Song: Alan Chadwick’s Vision of Abundance. Video produced by Jim Mulligan and John de Graaf. Arthur Mokins Productions, Inc.
- Orin Martin, Santa Cruz Express, April 25, 1985.
- Garden Song: Alan Chadwick’s Vision of Abundance. Video produced by Jim Mulligan and John de Graaf. Arthur Mokins Productions, Inc.
- Sunset Magazine, March 1969.
- Page Smith, News & Notes of the UCSC Farm & Garden Project, Issue 16, July 1980, p1.
- Beth Benjamin, News & Notes of the UCSC Farm & Garden, Issue 75, Summer 1997
- Ken Norris, letter to the Environmental Studies board (undated).
- Ray Dasmann, News & Notes of the UCSC Farm & Garden Projects, Issue 6, November 1978, edited by Louise Cain
- Bob Curry, News & Notes of the UCSC Farm & Garden Projects, Issue 12, November 1979
- Louise Cain, News & Notes of the UCSC Farm & Garden Project, Issue 1, Jan 1978
- Tom O’Leary, UCSC Review, Volume 8, Number 1, October 1982/li>
