Heather Schoen 3/13/02 Indep. Proj.: Organic Gardening at Colgate Mid-semester report: Project Update

1. Case Study Analysis (See Appendix A) From the start of this semester, I have been working on a case study analysis of 12 student-run organic farms/gardens on university/college campuses across the northeastern region of the United States. The following is a list of schools,- which currently have organic farms or gardens of their own: 1) The University of Vermont (Burlington, VT), 2) Sterling College (Craftsbury, VT), 3) Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH), 4) Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ), 5) Dartmouth College (Dartmouth, NH), 6) Cornell _ University (Ithaca, NY), 7) Hampshire College (Amherst, MA), 8) Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA), 9) Brown University (providence, RI), 10) Vassar College (poughkeepsie, NY), 11) Goddard College (Plainfield, VT), and 12) College of the Atlantic (Bar Harbor, ME). (Ithaca College (Ithaca, NY), Bowdoin College (Brunswick, ME), and Middlebury College (Middlebury, VT) are in the midst of establishing their own organic gardening projects.)

The purpose of this study, from my perspective is multifold. To begin with, it provided a comprehensive introduction to the notion of fanning in academic settings. My research accounted for a rising trend of farms and gardens on university and college campuses and curiosity drove me to ask questions about this phenomenon. What factors help to explain the increasing interest in sustainable agriculture and organic farming in a liberal arts environment? What is it that provides the impetus for schools to pursue such programs? Could it be the universal rise in environmental consciousness, which emerged out of the birth of the environmental movement in 1970? What about the effects of our nation's (moreover, the world's) newfound concern with synthetic pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, and other toxins and synthetic inputs and their impacts on human, animal, and environmental health?

Secondly, all of the cases, which I have reviewed, have provided some sort of model, or framework, if you will, after which I have been able to fonnulate a conceptual model for Colgate's own organic gardening project. The uniqueness of each model has enabled me to pull together a number of attributes from a variety of sources to create a vision for a successful project at Colgate. -By speaking with professional [ann managers, faculty members and students involved in these farms, I have been able to figure out what works and what doesn't.

To fmalize my analysis, I plan to choose 3 distinct farm/garden programs and using these mode1s, construct a more in depth comparative account ofeach case study. This will be attached as a section of my final research paper on sustainable agriculture.

2. Scholarly Literature Review I have compiled a list of literature on sustainable agriculture and organic fanning/gardening and begun sorting through it all. The notes I have taken on each article will serve to fonnulate a future research paper on the merits of sustainable agriculture. The bibliography that follows indicates a list of works, which I have already read though and noted on (marked by an asterisk) in addition to those works, which I

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have yet to review thus far. but plan to use in my final paper. Through this study I plan to address the following questions:

• What is sustainable agriculture? • What is organic fanning? • What and who account(s) for the increasing popularity of the organic

movement? • What are the environmental and health related benefits of sustainable

agriculture? • In what part of the country are trends in organic farming apparent? In

otr..er words, what segment of the population demonstrates support for the movement?

• Why farm organically? What drives the impetus to do so? Environment? Human health? Animal health?

(N.B. Please forgive the armotation of the bibliography as I was not sitting with a bibliographic reference when I wrote this up)

*Duram, Leslie A. (1997). A Pragmatic Study ofConventional and Alternative Farmers in Colorado. Professional Geographer, Vol. 49. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. 202-213.

Duram, Leslie A. and Kelli L. Larson. (2001). Agricultural Research and Alternative Fanners' Information Needs. Professional Geographer, VoL 53. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. 84-96.

*Guthman, Julie. (1998). Regulating Meaning. Appropriating Nature: The Codification ofCalifornia Organic Agriculture. Antipode, Vol. 30. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. 135-154.

*Hailweil, Brian. (May/June 2001). Organic Gold Rush. World Watch, Vol. 14. 22­32. http://firstsearch.oelc.arg!... :sessionid=sp03swO5-6018O-er89zwj 0-vip6k2 Accessed on 9/4/01

Hoffman, Carol A. and C. Ronald Carroll. (1995). Can We Sustain the Biological Basis ofAgriculture? Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, Vol. 26. 69-92.

*Judkins, Wesley P. Organic Gardening ~ Think. Mulch. .

Liebman, Matt and Elizabeth Dyck. (Feb. 1993). Crop Rotation and Intercropping Strategies/or Weed Management. Ecological Applications, Vol. 3. 92-122.

*Lockeretz, William, Georgia Shearer, and Daniel H. KoW. (February 6, 1981). Organic Farming in the Corn Belt. Science, Vol. 211. 540-547.

*Pretty, Jules. (September 24,2001). Diversity is the Sweetest Cash Crop. New Statesman. http://web.1exis-nexis.com/universe/ Accessed on 1/28/02.

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*Shapiro, Laura, Mary Hager, Karen Springen, and Thomas Hayden. (June 1, 1998). Is Organic Better? Newsweek.

*Shapiro, Laura, Linda Wright, Patricia King, Tim Padgett, and Lauren Picket. (May 27, 1989). Suddenly, It's Panic for Organic. Newsweek. 24.

Smith, C. and G. McDonald. (1998). Assessing the Sustainability ofAgriculture at the Planning Stage. Journal of Enviroomental Management, Vol. 52. 15-38.

TIuup, Lori Ann. (2000). Linking Agricultural Biodiversity and Food Security: The Valuable Role ofAgrobiodiversityfor Sustainable Agriculture. International Affairs, Vol. 76. 265-281.

Williams, David L. (March/April 2001). Integrating Sustainable Agriculture Into the Classroom. The Agricultural Education Magazine, Vol. 73. 26-27.

Wood, Marcia, Lupe Chavez, Don Comis, and Jennifer Arnold. (Feb. 2002). Organic Grows on America. Agricultural Research, Vol. 50. 4-9.

*Vandermeer, Jolm. (1995). The Ecological Basis ofAlternative Agriculture,. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, Vol. 26. Annual Review, Inc.: 201-224.

*(August 22, 1987). Does Nature Know Best? The Economist. 70. http://web.lexis-nexis.comfuniverse/ Accessed on 1/28102.

3. Journal I have been writing a journal on a regular basis to account for the progress I have made on this independent study from week to week. In it, I detail the work I have been pursuing between entries and establish goals and a plan of action for the subsequent week to two-week period.

4. Greenthumbs (See Appendix B) Greenthumbs is a student-run organization for those members of the Colgate Community interested in sustainable agriculture and more specifically, organic gardening. As a group we meet on a weekly basis (Wednesdays at 8 p.m.) for the duration ofon average one hour, during which time we discuss a variety of facets of sustainable agriculture and the prospects for an organic gardening project at Colgate. The purpose of meetings is threefold: Internal Education, External Educational Campaign, and Volunteer.

A) Internal Education: The purpose of internal education is to ensure that every member acquires a better understanding and knowledge base for the components of sustainable agriculture. At each meeting, a "teach· in" is conducted by a member (members) of the group to inform and educate the our community about a particular issue pertaining to sustainable agriculture and/or organic gardening. Since we have only met three times as an official group, we have had two teach-ins, both of

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which rconducted. The first was an introduction to sustainable agriculture and the second was a debate on the positive and negative aspects ofGeneticaBy Modified Organisms (GMOs) for society, human and animal health, and the environment in addition to the scope of their impact on the organic movement. All teach-in materials (i.e. articles, handouts, presentation materials) will be stored in the Greenthumbs binder, which will house all information on sustainable agriculture and organic gardening for reference purposes, in addition to our mission statement (a work in progress).

B) External Educational Campaign; External education provides the group with an outlet through which we will access and attempt to educate the rest of the Colgate and Hamilton Communities about the facets of sustainable agriculture. Examples of methods of information dissemination brainstonned by the group include: coop tables, university/community-wide teach-ins, film (potentially shown as part of the ENST film series), "Vegetable of the Month," and posters.

C) Volunteering: We will be working with Suzanne Slomin and Aaron, two local growers who are new farmers in the area and are interested in building relationships with the University and working with Colgate students. Together, we will sketch out a preliminary schedule for the rest of this 2002 Spring semester whereby students will have the opportunity to volunteer at this local organic farm on a weekly basis for the duration of this academic year. This schedule will lay out a framework to serve as a model for a work schedule for the summer and into next fall l which as of yet, has not been determined.

Goals: As a group, we brainstonned collectively the goals of the volunteer program. Our intentions are as follows:

1. Build Community: foster the growth of relationships between town and gown as well as those internal relationships between members of the Colgate Community

2. Experiential Education: learn through experience about the sustainable agriculture and organic fanning. What does it mean to work on a farm and run a [ann business?

3. Land Connections: gain a better understanding for the origin of our food - How are our crops grown? How do our crops grow? What does produce look like in the ground? What part of the plant do we eat? What types of produce are indigenous to this area?, Which crops grow well here (based on climatic conditions, soil type, water resources, etc.)? Etc ....

5. English Garden (See Appendix C) Most recently I have become involved, in accordance with other members of Greenthumbs, to create a more sustainable senior class gift, namely, A Greener English

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Community Garden. Greenthumbs decided collectively that as a group of concerted students exploring the facets of sustainable agriculture and organic fanning, we had vested interests in making certain the proposed English Garden was maintained using the most environmentally sound means of production possible. After we brainstormed ideas and our course of action, I drew up a petition, geared towards all members of the student­body and a formal proposal, which I submitted to Mark Spiro and the Senior Class Gift Corrunittee. On Tuesday evening, the 12th ofMarch at 9 p.m., Meredith Marzuoli (a fellow member of the class 0[2002 and Greenthumbs) and I presented the proposal to Spiro and the Committee.

6. Notables • Presented English Garden proposal in front ofSenior Class Gift Committee. • Presented the rationale for an organic gardening project at Colgate in front of

Campus Ecology Group (a group comprised of faculty, staff, and students, which discusses environmental issues of concern on campus). (See final page in packet for outline of presentation, which was handed out as a visual aid for members of the audience).

• Future Presentations: Present study in another forum geared towards students, faculty and staff (perhaps an ENST luncheon or Women's Studies Brown).

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