Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
social factors and implications of the farming and food system - agroecology could be defined
as the 'ecology of food systems' (Francis
et
al
. 2003).
'Science-based organic farming and gardening (AGRO 496/896)' at University of Nebraska
- Lincoln is designed to explore both the scientific basis of organic practices and integrated
systems as well as the experiential foundation of organic farming from farmers' viewpoint. A
reading list covers the history of organic farming, current practices in management and alter-
native marketing systems. The core activity of the course is a series of classes on theory and
then meetings with farmers, processing and marketing specialists, and an organic certification
supervisor who each describe their application of the combination of science and experience in
organic farming and food systems design. Each student reports on one book on history or the
current management of organic production systems. A major exercise for the term is each stu-
dent's development of a draft extension guide, either related to a specific topic such as control
of thrips in organic onion and garlic or dealing with a general topic such as certification rules
or alternative marketing schemes. A reference developed for this course as well as for extension
meetings with farmers and advisers is available on the web (cari.unl.edu/organichand-
book2004.doc). Two comprehensive and key resources are the website of the Applied Technol-
ogy Transfer to Rural Areas (ATTRA 2006), and the newly published curriculum and teachers'
guide from the University of California, Santa Cruz (Miles and Brown 2003). 'Agroecosystems
analysis (AGRO 436/836)' is a summer travel course with students from Nebraska, Iowa, Min-
nesota, and other states. There is precourse reading on the context of the region, and then
students and faculty come together for eight days of intense travel with interviews on ten farms
with the farmers and families. Student teams design indicators for farm evaluation, and need
to establish their criteria for evaluation, including production, economic, environmental and
social dimensions and impacts of the farming systems. Written team reports and individual
learner documents are used to assess the educational process (Wiedenhoeft
et
al
. 2003). The
course reading materials include Rickerl and Francis (2004) from the American Society of
Agronomy.
Deelopment of a curriculum
To date, most of our emphasis has been on development of individual course units or founda-
tion building blocks needed in organic farming and agroecology. These courses help prepare
students to deal with the complexity and uncertainty they will face in working for sustainable
agriculture and food systems. Less attention has been paid in our work to the design of an
overall curriculum. Existing course units have been built on in the study guides in specific and
important disciplines, and others have been added such as the integrative options listed in the
previous section. These courses in ecological agriculture can add value to component knowl-
edge and skills gained from prior experience and current courses. The educational landscape
will be improved by focusing on who is being educated, and what the emerging agroecologist
is expected to do with their education and experience in the program when they graduate
(Lieblein
et
al
. 2004).
The thinking so far has been constrained to some extent by modelling an educational
program with a sequence of courses that resembles other curricula in the university, and thus
fits into current schedules and is acceptable to the decision makers and peers on the university
evaluation committees. This is a logical first step to getting a course of study approved within
the contemporary university educational structure, yet whether this model is the most appro-
priate one for designing education in agroecology and ecological agriculture is being ques-
tioned. Reference has already been made to the case of the University of Western Sydney,
Hawkesbury, where an innovative and complete redesign of agricultural curriculum was
successfully made already in the 1980s. Yet, structural and financial changes in university