Progress 09/01/10 to 08/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: See Outputs on Logic Model. Mentoring: Seven tenure-track faculty and one part time instructor who compose the Collaborative for Foodshed Development were enlisted as mentors for 14 undergraduate students who enrolled in the summer field school. A majority of students found additional faculty in their discipline or off-campus supporters or mentors in the work place. Mentors apprise students of scholarly opportunities for minority STEM students and groom students for participation in professional, scholarly activities, graduate school, and careers. Student leadership through projects: All 14 students completed individual research projects during June, July, and August 2011. Projects included a 1-minute multimedia piece (with audio and still photography), an extended 5-9 minute piece, and a poster, suitable for presentation at a professional meeting. Thousands of photographs and many audio recordings form a digital archive for use in future projects and development of online courses. Projects are being disseminated: (1) through the project's blog - URL unmfoodshedfieldschool.wordpress.com, (2) at a public symposium on campus August 27, 2011, and at upcoming conferences during the academic year including the annual national meeting of the Quivira Coalition, the NM Organic Farming Conference, and the campus Research and Creativity Day. Class experiences are published in the NM Green Fire Times (July 2011) and the Fall issue of Edible Santa Fe. Interdisciplinary opportunities: The Collaborative held an open process to select students for the field school. Students were selected based on letter of intent, letters of recommendation, transcript, and self-identified minority status to fulfill the project's goal of supporting Hispanic and other minorities. Stipends were awarded to five students based on GPA and financial need, with preference to Hispanic and other minority students. One qualified student declined our offer in order to work during the summer. The selected students were from many disciplines including environmental design and planning, chemistry, secondary education, Spanish, geography, and nutrition. This year, the four instructors in the field school were from ecology, sustainability studies, Spanish, geology, and hydrology. The learning community was remarkably congenial, owing in part to the diversity of disciplines that required each of us to listen to others and not assume we knew what they meant or had to add to any given discussion. The field school visited four major biomes or agricultural areas of the state, including 27 individual farms, ranches, acequias, a multicultural symposium "Celbrando las Acequias", community development centers, NMSU Sustainable Agriculture Science Center at Alcalde, NMSU Agricultural Science Center at Farmington, slaughterhouses, dairies, food circles, irrigated industrial agriculture, traditional Navajo agriculture, and NM pueblo agricultural projects. The sites were interpreted in the context of land literacy, Hispanic history, direct knowledge of the value chain, with orientation to Hispanic and Pueblo traditions through face-to-face meetings between rural and urban agriculturalists and students. PARTICIPANTS: INSTRUCTORS: Bruce T. Milne, Professor of Biology and Director, Sustainability Studies Program Enrique Lamadrid, Professor and Chair, Department of Spanish and Portuguese Mark Stone, Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Jessica Rowland, Education Coordinator and Part Time Instructor ADMINISTRATOR: Terry Horger STUDENTS NAME GENDER RACE/ETHNICITY Tianna Baca-Bosilvejac F Hispanic Kimberly Barnett F White Bridget Barrera F Hispanic Joe Paul Castillo M Hispanic Kelsy Dotson F White Taamer Fashed M Palestinian Valerie Gurule F Hispanic Brittany Herrera F Hispanic Amy Jones F White German Martinez M Hispanic Stephanie Rodriguez F Hispanic Fatemeh Saeidi-Rizi F Persian Chris Sylvan M African Amer. Lyla Wall F White The field school made contacts at the following locations and with the associated organizations through on-site visits, tours, and symposia: Agriculture Collaborative, Mid Region Council of Governments, Albuquerque Celebrando de Las Acequias in Dixon sponsored by Woodbury University Canyon de Chelly National Monument, dryland agriculture, Arizona Dixon Food Coop Dragonfly Cafe & Bakery, Taos Fort Sumner meat processing facility Heritage Farm, Albuquerque BioPark La Semilla Food Center, Anthony Los Poblanos Organics South Valley Farm, Albuquerque Los Poblanos Inn and Cultural Center, Los Ranchos Mesilla Valley chile and specialty crops Navajo Agriculture Products Industry (NAPI), Farmington Navajo Dam irrigation systems New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, Las Cruces NMSU Sustainable Agriculture Science Center, Alcalde NMSU Agricultural Science Center and Dairy Extension, Clovis Raney Ranch grassfed beef and holistic range management, Corona Raw to Go, vegan take out, Taos Red Willow Education Center, Taos Pueblo Santa Cruz Farm, Espanola Sheep is Life Celebration, Tsaile, Arizona Sol Feliz Farm, Taos Sunland Peanut Farm and Plant, Portales Taos County Economic Development Corporation and Mobile Matanza Tesuque Pueblo family centered traditional agriculture and seed saving Village of Los Ranchos Agri-Nature Center and Open Space Opportunities for training and professional development were built into assignments the students completed during and after the field school. Instructors cultivated a sense of a graduate research experience to point students in the direction of graduate school. The detailed syllabus outlined objectives and themes. Students were directed to the assigned literature and coached through classroom sessions to choose themes for their assignments. Scholarly protocols were followed for oral documentation and collecting audio recordings of interviews, music, and ambient sound that could be combined into audio collages. Formal instruction was provided for photographic documentary work. Students were taught to make professional quality posters, suitable for presentation at meetings. Through a process of drafting and revising, all students completed the assignments which were showcased August 27, 2011 on campus in a public forum to simulate a professional conference. The experience prepared students for future presentations at meetings of professional societies. TARGET AUDIENCES: Students were the target audience although in the field we realized that virtually everyone in the food system is open to learning new things, which is why we published a piece early on to reach a wider audience. A second piece is in press. The student audience received knowledge about: (a) concepts, challenges, and solutions for developing a local foodshed; (b) ecological and engineering concepts about scaling up from fields to networks in the value chain; (c) communication skills to be better leaders; (d) critical thinking skills required to make effective multimedia pieces; (e) awareness of policies alternatives that would enable beneficial changes. Students acted on knowledge by: (a) interpreting historical and cultural aspects of New Mexico's food systems; (b) understanding the role of art in communication to diverse audiences in order to express issues, circumstances, and relationships to stakeholders through nontechnical language; and (c) building a sense of place and celebrating their own heritage and the heritage of others. Students improved their academic conditions by: (a) learning critical thinking skills; (b) expanding their understanding to appreciate the ecological and health benefits of foodshed diversity; (c) learning that economies of scale can reduce financial risk; and (d) seeing the interdependence of rural and urban agricultural communities. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: No major modifications of the project are required. Based on the end-of-course debriefing, we do plan to fine-tune our field school agenda to visit fewer sites and spend more time at the ones we visit. We also will require students to take a 1-credit seminar for 8 weeks before the field school so that instructors can introduce concepts, cover basic readings, and give instruction on the media technology.
Impacts
Concepts, challenges, and solutions for developing foodsheds: From field observations and interactions with producers, the class identified novel careers in foodshed development that would fill vacant niches. These are: (1) logistical support to cover regulations, financing, insurance, marketing, education for small farms and food businesses; (2) a "land-link" to connect people with land to people who need land for production; (3) "gleaners" to help growers manage surplus production or manage labor shortages by supplying labor at a critical time and having market access for the surplus; (4) geographical information support to coordinate land, water, labor, energy, market, technical, transportation, and biodiversity resources for the community. These ideas illustrate systems thinking in social, economic, and environmental sectors. Leadership skills for communication, organization, and initiative: The field school and mentoring activities provided students with skills, experiences, and resources to take initiatives in foodshed development. By August 27, seven students in the June field school reported significant academic and professional changes as a direct consequence of the school. These included: (1) Hispanic female number 1 applied to graduate school in geography with emphasis on foodsheds; (2) White female switched major from elementary education to environmental planning and design; (3) Hispanic female number 2 declared minor degree in Sustainability Studies; (4) Hispanic female number 2 took new job with South Valley Economic Development Corporation to connect farmers with value-added producers; (5) White female nutritionist is settling on thesis topic related specifically to foodsheds; (6) Hispanic female number 3 took new job at member-owned food cooperative; (7) HF 3 applying for honors thesis in local food psychology and geography; (8) African American male narrowed scope to legal aspects with plans for law school for food policy (Univ. Arkansas); (9) Hispanic female number 4 took job on local produce farm and is pursuing development of an organic baby food business by working with economic development corporation; (10) Hispanic male immigrant farm worker grew to "see something positive" and can "appreciate what I lived as a farm worker", with a new mission to pursue a career in medicine to benefit his community. Critical thinking, analysis, and research skills: The students' media projects required a high level of critical thinking in three phases of development. First, students sorted through a massive amount of experience to select distinct themes for their media pieces and again for their posters. Second, in the field, students had to observe carefully and make instantaneous decisions about what to document both photographically and with audio. Third, students culled images from among thousands collected by the class to construct visual and audio narratives that addressed the themes of their work. Literature sources were provided by instructors with additional sources discovered by students, using scholarly search engines.
Publications
- Milne, B., K. Barnett, J.P. Castillo, K. Dotson, and J. Rowland. 2011. Orphans of the land: Searching for agricultural mentorship. Green Fire Times July:15,17,32. http://unmfoodshedfieldschool.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/gftjuly2011 .pdf
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