Brian Schultz

This course is a broad introduction to the practices of sustainable agriculture and organic farming. It includes experience in the field, combined with study of the underlying science and technology of several key agricultural topics and methods, as well as some more economic/political aspects. We will focus on sustainable and/or organic methods that minimize the use of nonrenewable resources and the associated pros and cons. Coursework will include activities and assignments at the Hampshire College farm and nearby farms/groups, as well as short papers, problems, and options for independent work in particular areas. In-class topics also include readings, discussions, and assignments aimed at understanding sustainable practices in general. For example, we will study problems with pest control and how to manage pests sustainably/organically, given their life cycles and ecology; basic aspects of soil and fertility management; how animals fit into sustainable schemes of production; winter greenhouses; maple sugaring; crop and farm diversification; the concerns about buying local vs. imported and/or organic food; labor and energy issues; and more.

This course looks at agriculture as a set of ecological systems and issues. It refers to ecology in both the sense of interactions between organisms (e.g., crops, pests, and predators) and their environment, and in the larger-scale sense of environmental impacts and related social and political issues. A broad range of topics will be covered, including pesticides and alternatives, soil fertility and erosion, the role of animals, genetically modified crops, biofuels, global vs. local trade and more. The course work will consist of readings, discussion, written assignments (with revisions as needed), work at the Hampshire farm, group and independent projects, guest lectures and films, and field trips. Given the fieldwork, students should always be prepared to walk and be outside (e.g., sun screen, rain gear, sensible shoes). Some fieldwork may include other times and days to be arranged in class.

This course will examine terrestrial ecology and natural history with an emphasis on our area and studies of the Hampshire fields and forests, as well as visits to other local points of interest (e.g., Mount Tom, the Conn. River flood plain, the Quabbin reservoir); focusing on birds, arthropods, and plants, but with attention to mammals, herps, geology, etc. We will spend as much time as possible outside, weather permitting, and combine walking and seeing and learning the local flora and fauna, such as the birds migrating through in the Fall or local trees, with scientific sampling studies of such features as life under logs (e.g., millipedes and red-backed salamanders) or in the canopy (using the Hampshire canopy walkway), or the biodiversity of the Hampshire campus (including quantitative inventories and museum-type collections for display in Cole Science).