July 19, 2002

Course cultivates interest in sustainable ag

By Ellen Chrismer

Instructor Carol Hillhouse talks to the farming class about how to irrigate seedlings without wasting water. Student Bruno Pitton, third from left, says the hands-on course has given him more practical experience than other campus courses that don't involve fieldwork. Debbie Aldridge/Mediaworks

Bruno Pitton is "really digging" his summer school class, the fourth-year environmental horticulture student says.

During the course – "Sustainable Agriculture: Principles and Practice" – he and 11 classmates are driving tractors to cultivate crops such as corn, harvesting organic onions and garlic for sale and trimming back plum and apricot trees.

"They don’t really teach you how to prune in other classes (I’ve taken)," Pitton said.

And yes, he’s even shoveling and spading new flower beds – all at the UC Davis Student Farm’s Market and Ecological gardens, where the course and internship program are based.

The program emphasizes the practice and principles of sustainable agriculture, which combines economically viable and environmentally responsible farming techniques. Pitton, who may work after graduation restoring natural areas, says he’s learned far more here about how to grow plants than in other courses that have kept him in the lab or classroom.

"It’s pretty cool that I can actually apply some of the knowledge that I’m getting," Pitton said, who’s already weeding his own garden of Johnson grass, a field scourge he’s learned to identify and uproot in the course.

Pitton isn’t the only one enthusiastic about the class. Early last week students, shielded by floppy, straw sun hats or baseball caps, took to their tasks in the 100-plus degree heat. But they didn’t seem to mind.

"It’s hot," said Tanya Lawrence, 21. "Sometimes it’s hard work. She left an in-home care job in Amherst, Mass., to try her hand at farming. "Other times it’s fun and relaxing."

The class, held nearly every year since the early 1980s, is one of 16 UC Davis summer "Special Sessions" –courses on and off campus tackling subjects typically not available to students during the year.

"This is about as far away from a PowerPoint presentation as you can get," said an instructor, Carol Hillhouse, who teaches students how to grow drought-tolerant flowers and herbs in the farm’s Ecological Garden.

"We look around and say, ‘What do we want to do today?’" she said. She stood in a patch of thyme, oregano and savory as students around her trimmed back some older plants. "But we also know there are certain things that we want to cover."

Lessons in irrigation techniques that don’t waste water, California native plants and crop rotations are essential portions of the course, Hillhouse said.

During their eight-week program, the students spend mornings in the fields. At noon they gather with Mark Van Horn, the student farm manager, for classroom instruction on topics such as soil chemistry, plant biology and pest management.

Fridays are reserved for field trips to small family farms and large field operations from Yolo to Monterey counties– including the Winters and Esparto properties of Mike Ridolfi, who was a student in the class several years ago.

For the summer, the students’ goals are academic, practical and philosophical. A few are studying in UC Davis’ international agriculture program or have an interest in educating farmers in developing countries. Others are doing a bit of career exploration.

Pat Vellines, a geologist on leave from the Central Valley Water Quality Control Board in Sacramento wants to start a farm with her husband.

"I figured if I was only going to take one class, this was it," she said.

For her final project, required of all students, Vellines, 41, is being practical, too. She hopes to conduct an economic analysis of what it would take to purchase farmland, buy supplies and grow marketable crops.

Jessica Kester, 26, left an environmental education job with the North Carolina Coastal Federation to try her hand at farming and a "new direction."

"That’s my other job out here, to look for new opportunities and see where they will lead," she said while taking a break from mowing down winter crops in the Market Garden.

Whatever their ambition, students should finish the course Aug. 15 knowing how to farm sustainably on their own, said Van Horn and Raoul Adamchak, a Market Garden instructor,

"It’s do-able," Adamchak said. "It doesn’t happen to everyone, though. I think farmers are chosen rather than make the decision to farm."

Whether or not they ultimately work their own plot of land, Van Horn said, students in the summer class usually return to the campus farm, where work continues year-round.