Recipient Organization
UNIV OF MINNESOTA
(N/A)
ST PAUL,MN 55108
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The rapid growth of organic production has been accompanied by development of new organic agriculture curricula at land-grant universities. However, most existing curricula do not include organic animal production, which along with educating the next generation is essential to sustaining organic agriculture. Overarching goals of this project are to: 1) Sustain and support the expansion of organic agriculture by building competent professionals and workforce, 2) Enhance organic educational programs at land-grant universities, 3) Promote leadership and career success among underrepresented students in organic agriculture. Our goals will be achieved by 1) Developing a series of courses and modules to provide students with fundamental knowledge and hands-on exposure to organic animal production, 2) Developing internship programs to provide extended experiences and to hone students' problem-solving skills, 3) Developing directed study programs to deepen students' knowledge of organic production, and 4) Providing leadership and career development opportunities for underrepresented students in organic agriculture and related areas. In this project, we will develop two core courses and several modules inorganic animal production. All courses and modules will consist of both lectures and lab (hands-on) activities. The lecture session will aim to increase students' understanding of fundamental knowledge and principles in organic animal production; and the hands-on activities will help students apply what is learned in the classroom to field settings. Additionally,we will design an internship program and a directed study program to provide students real world experience in organic animal production and hone students' problem-solving skills. Furthermore, we will focus on underrepresented students and help them to achieve their career goals through connecting themwith tribal partners working in the area of food sovereignty.Courses,modules, and programs will be offered across two campuses of the University of Minnesota. Organic certified facilities (dairy, swine, poultry, and student garden) at the University of Minnesota will be used for students' hands-on activities. Project outcomes will be delivered through publications, presentations, and online posting. In alignment with Priorities of 8, 1, 6, and 9 of the OREI program, this project addresses the absence of educational programs in organic animal production at land-grant universities, the scarcity of opportunities for students to engage in organic animal production in real-world situations, and the shortage of competent professionals and workforce in organic agriculture.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The overarching goals of this project are to 1). Sustain and support the expansion of organic agriculture by providing competent professionals and workforce, 2). Enhance organic educational programs at land-grant universities, and 3). Promote leadership and career success of (especially but not limited to) underrepresented students in organic agriculture.By developing a comprehensive curriculum focusing on organic animal production and integrating the curriculum into existing majors across departments and campuses at the University of Minnesota, we strive to meet the urgent demand for competent professionals and workforce with fundamental knowledge, skills, and experiences to support organic animal production. The goals will be achieved through the following objectives: 1. Develop a series of courses and modules for undergraduate and graduate students in order to provide students with fundamental knowledge and principles, and hands-on exposure to organic animal production.2. Develop internship opportunities to provide real world experience and hone students' problem-solving skills, with particular emphasis on a systems approach to addressing challenges in organic animal production by working with organic farmers and potential employers in organic agriculture and food systems. 3. Develop directed study programs to deepen students' knowledge of organic animal production in the context of ongoing research programs with faculty and organic farmers.4. Provide organic agriculture-targeted leadership and career development opportunities for students, including underrepresented students; facilitate student interactions with employers in organic agriculture systems; and work with students to develop individual career plans that will enable them to become competent professionals and workers to sustain and support the expansion of organic agriculture.
Project Methods
To achieve Objective 1, we will develop two core courses (Introduction to Organic Animal Production, and Organic Animal Production Systems and Management). Both courses will consist of both lectures and lab (hands-on) activities. The lecture session will aim to increase students' understanding of fundamental knowledge and principles in organic animal production; and the hands-on activities will help students apply what is learned in the classroom to field settings. The first course will be designed for undergraduate students, and the second course will be for graduate and advanced undergraduate students. Both courses will emphasize multi-disciplinary and systems thinking, practical and experiential learning, and skill building. The hands-on activities for the first course will include development of Livestock Organic System Plans and business plans, preparing paperwork for annual inspection, case studies, farm visits, and interaction with organic farmers and stakeholders. The hands-on activities for the second course will include individual projects, case studies, hands-on experiences at the organic dairy and organic swine facilities at the WCROC, and the student organic poultry farm on St Paul campus, farm visits, and interactions with organic farmers and their stakeholders at field days.Additionally, lectures and hands-on activities related to three species (organic dairy, swine, and poultry) will be modified and made stand-alone modules to be plugged into existing courses to increase the number of students engaged in the curriculum. In addition to the three animal species-specific modules, we will develop other comprehensive modules with emphasis on integrated organic production systems, and social and environmental impacts of organic animal production. All these modules will be designed to increase students' awareness and understanding of concepts and principles in specific areas related to each module. Each module will also consist of both lecture session and lab or field activities. The lecture session will cover fundamental concepts and provide examples. The hands-on activities will include visiting organic animal facilities at WCROC and St. Paul campus, virtual or in-person tours of commercial organic animal farms and processing facilities, and communication with organic farmers and their stakeholders at field days.To achieve Objective 2, we will design an internship program to help students apply knowledge and principles to organic animal production. We will develop an individual internship agenda for each student to achieve the following goals: to gain work experience in organic animal production and associated areas in a real-world setting, to enhance problem-solving skills by applying fundamental knowledge and principles learned in the classroom to identify and solve problems in organic animal production, to meet the students' learning objectives and personal growth goals, and to provide guidance and networking opportunities to help students achieve their career goals. At the conclusion of the internship, students will present final project papers to reflect what they have learned, whether they have achieved their learning objectives, how the internship experiences have helped them understand and apply knowledge and principles to the real-world and influence their career goals.For Objective 3, we will provide directed studies for students who wish to dive into a specific area in organic animal production, organic food systems, or integrated organic crop-livestock systems. We will pre-evaluate the student's learning objectives and career goals before custom-designing a directed study for each student. Students in directed studies will have more opportunities to work on commercial organic farms and interact more frequently with organic farmers and stakeholders than student interns. At the conclusion of the program, students will present a final project report to reflect what they have learned, whether they have achieved their learning objectives, how the directed study experiences have helped them understand and apply knowledge and principles to the real-world and influence their career goals.Objective 4 will be achieved through collaborations among the project team, the Native American Student Services (NASS) staff, and Career Development Center (CDC) of UMN. We will include Native individuals' and communities' work in organic agriculture in the curriculum. We will also connect Native students with tribal partners working in the area of food sovereignty. All students who enroll in the proposed curriculum will have opportunities to meet with the project team and staff from CDC to discuss and refine their career goals and to develop strategies for meeting the goals. Additionally, students will be connected with organic farmers, stakeholders, and potential employers on individual basis to learn about what expectations and needs there are for competent leaders, professionals, and workforce in organic animal production and related areas. Students will meet with the project team and staff from CDC and (as appropriate) NASS on a regular basis to check progress they have made in leadership and career development.