The number of undergraduate students majoring in and graduating from agricultural fields has been steadily declining over the past ten years. This has resulted in a drop in the numbers of agricultural professionals able to address today’s complex and interdisciplinary agricultural problems. To excite students about agroecological career options and research, we developed and piloted an educational model, the Sustainable Agriculture Scholars Program, which linked scientific research in organic agriculture to structured experiential learning activities. Our objectives were as follows: 1) to further student understanding of the role that research plays in supporting sustainable agriculture, 2) to increase student interest in agricultural career options, and 3) to use community service as a vehicle for learning. In summer of 2007, three students were selected for the program. The three major learning environments were the laboratory, farm visits and service-learning projects. We involved students in on-farm and laboratory research, structured weekly meetings and field trips to discuss the process of sustainable agriculture research and observe farming practices in action, and facilitated a paid service-learning project with an agricultural related NGO. In order to assess whether we met our objectives, student feedback was collected through a focus-group style interview with a third party.
Results/Conclusions
Students reported learning about linkages between agriculture research and practice within all three environments, with farm visits being the primary site of this learning, specifically through observations of sustainable agricultural practices related to their lab work and interactions with farmers. Though students described ways in which farm visits made lab work seem more relevant, there were few instances describing how the lab work was relevant to the farming community. Students suggested that involvement in more aspects of the research, for example participating in sample collection, might make lab work more meaningful. All students reported increased interest in agricultural careers as a result of participating in the Program; two reported increased desire to pursue agricultural research. Service project discussions demonstrated students’ sense of ownership and satisfaction about contributing to their community. This evaluation demonstrates the potential for the Program to foster interest in sustainable agriculture and agriculture research for promising undergraduates. However it is limited by the small sample size, the focus-group format of data collection, and the absence of a pre-assessment. We will address each of these in a follow-up evaluation beginning with the 2008 summer cohort.
