Agriculture at Hampshire College

The study of food, agriculture, and rural life brings together faculty and students interested in the central intellectual, political, scientific, and cultural issues that dominate contemporary discussion of food and agriculture.

The program combines a diverse academic curriculum with practical experience at the Hampshire College Farm Center, an organic working farm, and workshops with visiting writers, artists, and scholars. Students gain experience with the complex issues of sustainability through internships and apprenticeships with farms and advocacy groups.

Student Project Titles

 * Industrial Agriculture in Spanish Lookout, Belize
 * Agriculture, the State, and the NGO in Egypt
 * Path of the Dharma Farmer: Seeking a Sustainable Spirituality
 * You Are Where You Eat: Pedagogy for an Eco-Justice, Health-Oriented Sense of Place
 * Under the Canopy: Investigating the Effects of Arsenic on a Microbial Population Under Anaerobic Conditions in a Collection of :*Flooded Soils From an Atkins Farm Apple Orchard
 * Wetland Biogeochemistry and Climate Change
 * The Willowell Land Parcel: Designing Education with Permaculture

Featured Faculty Profiles
Lawrence J. Winship Director of Southwest Studies, Professor of Botany

Robert Rakoff Professor of Politics and Environmental Studies

Brian Schultz Associate Professor of Ecology and Entomology

Jason M. Tor Associate Professor of Microbiology

Sample First-Year Course
Ecology, Agriculture and Society 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 field work, always be prepared to walk and be outside (e.g., sun screen/rain gear, sensible shoes). Some field work may include other times and days to be arranged in class.

Sample Courses at Hampshire

 * Advanced Topics in Terrestrial Ecology
 * Agriculture, Ecology &amp; Society
 * Agriculture, Food &amp; Human Health
 * Biomass Energy
 * Change in the Valley
 * Colloquy on Sustainable Living
 * The Contested American Countryside
 * Ecology of New England Old Growth
 * Forests
 * Farming in America
 * From Generation to Generation:
 * Seed-Saving in Sustainable Agriculture
 * Intro to American Studies
 * Kitchen Ecology
 * The Microbial Farm
 * Pesticide Alternatives
 * Seminar in Rural Studies
 * Soil: Science &amp; Society
 * Sustainable Agriculture &amp; Organic Farming
 * Sustainable Agriculture: Local, Organic
 * Food Production &amp; the Urban/Ex-
 * Urban Interface
 * Sustainable Agriculture Seminar
 * Sustainable Living
 * The Unknown Microbial Majority

Through the Consortium

 * Horticulture (SC)
 * Plant Biology (SC)
 * Plant Ecology (UMass)
 * Soil Chemistry (UMass)
 * Sustainable Agriculture (UMass)
 * Tropical Agriculture (UMass)

Facilities and Resources

 * Resources for Sustainability and Environmental Studies

The Hampshire College Farm Center is a working farm, as well as a research, education, and outreach facility, dedicated to sustainable agriculture. Created in the late seventies as an experimental project of the Natural Science faculty, the Farm Center continues to be a place where students and faculty integrate science and alternative technology as a means for testing sustainable methods of farming.

Students and faculty develop research projects and take advantage of work study opportunities; local community members participate in workshops and buy organic vegetables through the Community Supported Agriculture program; and local school children and teens learn about farming through the School-to-Farm Program.

Students involved in the study of agriculture in the School of Natural Science and on the Farm can also take advantage of the state-of-the-art open laboratories in Cole Science Center. Our agriculture, ecology, environmental science, and molecular biology labs help bridge the indoor and outdoor environments, where advanced students design and execute original research experiments to test out non-toxic methods of pest control or determine the most effective methods to encourage aerobic composting microbes.

Along with student and faculty research and a Community Supported Agriculture program which supplies organic vegetables to the Hampshire community, the Farm Center offers workshops in such diverse arts as weaving, beekeeping, natural fiber dyeing, and maple sugaring. The School-to-Farm program, Farm Apprenticeship program, and Summer Farm Camp link Hampshire to the surrounding community, bringing children and young people to the Farm Center for hands-on learning experiences.

The Sustainable Campus Plan for the college promotes the campus as a living laboratory to engage students in green design, sustainable community development, and responsible land practices. An initiative is underway to build a sustainable apartment as part of campus.

Information Quoted From: http://www.hampshire.edu/admissions/agriculture.htm