Agroecology Practicum, UCSC

This summer I wanted to learn more about gardening and agriculture in general, basically how to grow things! Early last semester I thought about interning on a farm or finding a summer educational program to take. Through both internet research and word of mouth I found the Agroecology Practicum at UC Santa Cruz. It is part of the Environmental Studies department and it is a summer course that counts for upper division credit. There are two sessions of the class; each one is five weeks long. The curriculum is a mixture of both hands-on work, in the gardens and on the farm, and classroom-based discussions and lectures. As students, we get integrated for work in the fields with the farm apprentices, who are taking a 6-month apprenticeship program that focuses on all aspects of organic farm management. The apprenticeship program seems amazing; most of the 37 or so apprentices live communally in these tent cabins and they learn about organic farming while operating this amazing on-campus educational farm. About 7 get paid to stay for a second year to help run the program. The farm is part of CASFS, the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. UCSC is one of only a few schools to have such a strong program in agroecology, which is basically the intersection of agronomy and ecology. It seeks to integrate ecological principles and phenomena with the goal of improving agricultural practices to increase yields, minimize environmental degradation, promote land stewardship and achieve long-term sustainability. I highly recommend taking the practicum and seeking other educational offerings in agroecology.

I will follow this post with others about specific topics that we've talked about in class. We've covered a ton of material so far and some of it is hard to explain without visual aids and hands-on experience but I'll try. Feel free to ask for any clarification!