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Perspectives on Sustainability - CSANR Blog

  • Sustainable agriculture’s key component? Happiness.

    January 6, 2015

    This year CSANR sponsored registration for several WSU students to attend Tilth Producers of WA annual conference.  We will be posting reflections written by the students over the next several weeks. Please feel free to comment and give these students your feedback.

    Zack Frederick is a second-year student pursuing PhD in Plant Pathology 

    Zack Frederick - student guest blogger

    Zack Frederick – student guest blogger

    The Tilth Producers of Washington annual conference represents a unique opportunity for all. This year, while I expected research presentations, I was surprised by an unusual theme: happiness. More specifically, happiness at the nexus of three points: sustainable organic agriculture, doing what you love, and with a reliable income. Many presentations covered one of these three, but the majority that I attended covered two or all three.

    At Tilth, presentations promoted organic agricultural practices that are mindful of environmental and social contexts both on and off the farm. Those like me who fancy being a plant pathologist one day could find many presentations on topics of disease management practices. In theory, these are familiar waters, except that presenters challenged me to consider new environmental and social perspectives.

  • Training the next generation of farmers

    December 18, 2014

    This year CSANR sponsored registration for several WSU students to attend Tilth Producers of WA annual conference.  We will be posting reflections written by the students over the next several weeks. Please feel free to comment and give these students your feedback.

    Bethany Wolters - student guest blogger

    Bethany Wolters – student guest blogger

    If you want to get me excited about something, mention food, farming, or teaching.  I am studying to be an agriculture professor and am currently a soil science master student at Washington State University, learning everything I can about growing vegetables, healthy soils and teaching.  At the beginning of November I had the opportunity to attend the Washington Tilth Producers Conference in Vancouver, WA. One of the events I participated in was a workshop called “The Next Generation of Farmers and Eaters: Changing the Food System through Education.”  It was presented by Stuart O’Neill, who organizes an on-farm internship program in Oregon called Rogue Farm Corps, and Elizabeth Wheat, who is a Whidbey Island farmer and lecturer at University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Wheat talked about her experiences introducing agriculture to students at an urban university and their campus farm.  I came away from the presentations and discussion inspired to re-image how agricultural education fits into higher education.

  • The healing power of soil

    December 15, 2014

    This year CSANR sponsored registration for several WSU students to attend Tilth Producers of WA annual conference.  We will be posting reflections written by the students over the next several weeks. Please feel free to comment and give these students your feedback.

    Alison Detjens - student guest blogger

    Alison Detjens – student guest blogger

    Tilth Producers of Washington has been holding yearly gatherings for 40 years. The annual conference brings together farmers, interns, intermediaries, educators and food activists for a three day long celebration of sharing knowledge and ideas.

    Some of the workshops are technical, providing best practices or innovative ideas; others focus on community and health. One of the workshops I attended this year spoke of a farm that bridges the social and physical aspects of food and farming in a profound, yet simple way: a farm dedicated to working with veterans of war to help heal and reintegrate men and women into civilian society.