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St. Cloud State University
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Agriculture grabs students' attention
By Kristin Egeland
Published:
Thursday, December 9, 2004
For one group of students, an initiative that began as a class project has turned into an event that may have far-reaching effects on the community.
Faculty, students and community members attended a dinner promoting sustainable agriculture and a developing community garden at University Lutheran Church Tuesday night.
Elizabeth Scheel, whose community organizing class the project idea stemmed from, said that the goal of the class was to learn about how to organize communities for social change.
"The group wanted to focus on this as part of larger globalization issues," Scheel said. "It was their job to locate community people, fundraise, advertise, build connections and start something to go beyond the classroom."
"Globalization is so huge that it's hard to do it locally, (but) we decided to do it on sustainable agriculture," said Cory Johnson, a senior sociology major and one of the students involved in the project. "We just wanted to bring awareness (about) supporting local farmers and helping in the promotion of the community garden."
Maren Greathouse, graduate assistant at the Volunteer Connection and part of Scheel's class, applied for a grant from the Initiative Foundation on the behalf of the group after the initial idea was formed. After receiving the grant, group members worked on the details of the dinner.
"We rented space, built coalitions with the local community and solicited non-corporate organizations (for silent auction donations)," Greathouse said.
The dinner included a buffet-style meal and a silent auction of items donated by area businesses. All proceeds from the silent auction went toward the community garden.
Laura Selin, a sophomore sociology major, said that she shops at the Good Earth Food Co-op.
"I try to eat organic and have heard about (sustainable agriculture) in an environmental studies course," Selin said. "You can taste the difference, especially in the tomatoes."
Jane Olsen, director of the Women's Center, said that although she knew some things about sustainable agriculture and community gardens, she came to find out more.
"I'm curious to know more and put all the pieces together," Olsen said. "(And) seeing progress in our community as far as sustainable agriculture goes."
A division of Pride of the Prairie Market Basket and Whole Farm Co-op both hosted booths at the event. Byron Zahm, food sales coordinator for Pride of the Prairie, said that they work with over a hundred sustainable agriculture farmers in western Minnesota and work to educate people on the value of sustainable agriculture. He became involved with the organization because it was consistent with the lifestyle changes his family was making.
"(In educating people), it's about finding out why eating healthfully makes sense," Zahn said. "It's about quality of life, supporting the local economy and building a community around food."
Mary Jo Forbord was the keynote speaker at the event. She discussed the alternative sustainable agriculture provided to a multi-national corporation-based food system.
"We are committed to providing an alternative for the health of people and for the health of our soils," Forbord said. "It's exciting to see people talking and connecting about our food systems, asking questions that need to be asked and finding solutions."
Other speakers discussed both the challenges and the growths sustainable agriculture has seen in recent times.
Jeremy Lanctot, an SCSU alum who is involved in the Minnesota Dairy Initiative, said that he's seen growth.
"Organic dairy has grown around 20 to 30 percent each year the last 10 years," Lanctot said. "(In organic), there's traceability and accountability that you don't always see in (large corporations)."
Although the dinner focused on sustainable agriculture, a secondary focus was on increasing awareness regarding a community garden located on campus.
Tracy Ore, director of the applied sociology program and an associate professor at SCSU, approached the administration in September with the idea and has a tentative agreement for a community garden, potentially located adjacent to the Women's Center.
"There's a movement toward community gardens and sustainable agriculture," Ore said. "I've done community gardens in other states."
Ore said that although the initial idea has been formed, it is still a work in progress, one in which she hopes to involve the entire community in beyond the environment of campus.
She explained that much of the planning will be done after community connections are made. Community planning meetings will start in January. Interested persons should contact Ore at 308-1694.
"I'm hoping to make connections in the community," Ore said.
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