Sustainable Farming Program Takes Root

by Theresa Beaver, from the August 2003 Newsletter

I arrived on the Palouse in January 1991, all set to study sustainable agriculture. It didn’t take me long to realize that the graduate degree I was working on was not what I had in mind as sustainable agriculture. Though I did not continue pursuit of that degree, you notice I am still here on the Palouse. Moscow has a way of drawing you in, doesn’t it?

Now, 12 years later, I am thrilled to say that both universities offer courses that suit my criteria for sustainable agriculture education. University of Idaho offers Sustainable Small Acreage Farming and Ranching every fall. WSU offers Science, Society and Sustainable Food Systems as a general education requirement for undergraduate students every fall. This course meets the needs of incoming students while broadening their perspectives on where their food comes from. But even I enjoyed the course as an older, non-traditional student.

Organic Farming and Gardening is another course that I never thought I would see offered at WSU. But it is now in the catalog, offered every Spring and cross-listed with UI, which means that students at either university take it.

The best part is that these and other sustainable course options can be taken for a certificate in Sustainable Small Acreage Farming and Ranching, and you don’t even have to be a student – they are all open to community members as Continuing Education Units, only $120/course.

I still love living on the Palouse, watching the wheat fields sway in the wind and seeing those giant insect-like combines rolling down the highway in the fall. But I am even happier to live here knowing that our universities are finally supporting the small acreage farmer or student interested in an alternative farming system.

Better still, I am lucky enough to be the coordinator for this great program. Want to hear more? I’d be happy to talk to you about the program and help you get signed up for the fall classes. Contact Theresa Beaver at 885-7787.

Copyright: Copyright on articles and recipes are jointly held by the Moscow Food Co-op and the respective authors, except were otherwise noted.

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