***Course Brochure***

Student Organic Farm Planning, Growing and Marketing

Spring 2007

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Class Meets: Tuesdays & Thursday 11:30-1:00 in Classroom 136 Plant Growth Greenhouse

Instructors:     Courtney Tchida, Instructor / Facilitator,

Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture

                        413 Hayes Hall 612-625-2738 tchi0003@umn.edu

                        Bud Markhart, Professor, Dept. of Horticultural Science

                        228 Alderman Hall, 612-624-7705, amarkhar@umn.edu

                        Paul Porter, Professor, Dept. of Agronomy & Plant Genetics

                        305 Hayes Hall, 612-625-6719, pporter@umn.edu

                        Office hours vary, please contact instructor by email or phone to make an appointment.

Course Description:  

Have you ever wanted to grow your own food?  Have you wondered what growing organic food really means?  Are you interested in selling directly to eager consumers?  Are you interested in field or greenhouse research growing fruits are vegetables with out synthetic pesticides and fertilizers? If the answer to any of these questions is yes?, then  this “hands dirty” course that plans, grows, and markets organic produce and flowers from the Student Organic Farm is for you! 

The Student Organic Farm course plans, grows, and markets organic produce and flowers from the Student Organic Farm located on the St. Paul Campus.   Through weekly meetings during the Spring Semester students will review past year production and marketing successes and challenges and explore specific organic production practices for soil health and fertility, pest management, composting, handling, season extension, and options for marketing. Students will design a research project that could be executed on the farm during the summer growing season. Students will learn organic seedling production in high tunnels, effective transplanting to minimize weed competition, insect identification with an emphasis on supporting beneficial insect populations, and disease management.  The organic vegetables produced on the farm have been sold at farmer’s markets, by office delivery, to restaurants, coops, and local school districts.  And of course eagerly consumed by the growers!   

                        Students interested in carrying out and completing their research project during the summer term can do so for credit through the professional experience program within their home department or other options that can be explored. Funding opportunities for internships will also be discussed throughout the course. 

Learner Outcomes/Course Objectives:       

Students will participate in all aspects of planning, growing and marketing organically grown fruits and vegetables.

Students will be able to make recommendations for using certified organic practices to manage pest and fertility issues on an organic farm.

Students will be able to build a functional compost “pile” suitable for recycling garden and kitchen waste.

Students will be able use USDA organic certification guidelines to transition a conventional farm to a certified organic farm.

Students will be able to design an individual research project suitable for the Student Organic Farm.

Students will be able to use collaborative learning techniques based on consensus building methods.

Students will be able to create a production and marketing plan for the student organic farm for the 2007 growing season.

Students will be able to set up and use low or high tunnels to grow early season crops and start transplants of warm season species.

Prerequisite Recommendations:                  

                        AGRO 1101, AGRO 1103, or HORT 1001, Biol 1009, Biol 1001 or permission of instructor

Texts:              “Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to developing a business plan for farms and rural businesses” A MISA Publication

                        “Gaia’s Garden” by Toby Hemenway

Grading:         Grading is A-F or S-N and is based on (Subject to change & discussion)

·        Class Attendance, Participation, Leadership & Initiative (30%)

·        Literature Review (10%)

·        Crop Reports: Planning, Growing & Marketing (15%)

·        Organic Certification & Record Keeping Assignment (15%)

·        Design Project (10%)

·        Research Project Design (10%)

·        Lab / Discussion Assignments (10%)

Grading           Letter grades will be based on the following percentages of the total points

Strategy:         (yet to be determined).

                                    A = 95% +

                                    A- = 90-94%

                                    B+ = 87-89%

                                    B = 84-86%

                                    B- = 80-83%

                                    C+ = 77-79%

                                    C =  74-76%

Class Outline (Subject to change):

Week #	Week of	Tuesday	Thursday	Readings:
1	1/15	Introduction to Course, Background on the Student Organic Farm		Gaia’s Garden p. xi-16
1.5	4-5 hr 1/21/07	Retreat: Introductions, Guiding Principles & Mission Statement, Overview of current situations, Consensus Building & Priority Setting, Literature Review Assignment USDA Organic Certification & Record Keeping		Building a Sustainable Business Plan Section 1
2	1/22	Garden Ecology, Whole Farm Planning: The pieces of the Puzzle, Succession & The Evolution of the Student Organic Farm,	How does that seed grow? Plant Growth Requirements.	Gaia’s Garden p. 17-29
3	1/29	Soil & Water, Soil and fertility, how to build a healthy soil,  Soil tests, the importance of organic matter Soil Preparation & Continuous Cover concepts	Potato Propagation	Gaia’s Garden p. 57-98
4	2/5	Plant / Cultivar Selection	Literature Review Sharing	Gaia’s Garden p. 99-120
5	2/12	Garden Design: Plant Communities & Guilds, Functionality & Aesthetics	Crop Reports Part 1	Gaia’s Garden p. 141-166
6	2/19	Conducting On Farm Research: Basics of experimental design,	Upper Midwest Organic Conference
7	2/26	Pest Management & Organic Strategies, Beneficial Relationships.	Research Proposals Revisited	Gaia’s Garden p. 121-140
8	3/5	Weed Management	Tools & Tricks: Starting Seeds for the Growing Season.	Gaia’s Garden p. 167-194
	3/12	Spring Break
9	3/19	Disease Management	Cold Frames, High Tunnels and Greenhouse Management	Building a Sustainable Business Plan Section 2
10	3/26	Sustainable Business Planning: Operations & Human Resources, Finances	Crop Reports Part 2	Building a Sustainable Business Plan Section 3
11	4/2	Sustainable Business Planning: Fresh Produce Marketing	Design Share	Building a Sustainable Business Plan Section 4
12	4/9	Harvest/ Post-harvest storage	Field Layout	Building a Sustainable Business Plan Section 5
13	4/16	Marketing and Transitioning to Summer	Beautiful U Day Event
14	4/30	Planting in the Field	Planting in the Field

Citing Sources:

                        Given that the over-arching goal of this class is to compile a master plan for our student farm that will be used as a reference in the future, it is imperative that we site the sources of all information used in compiling our master plan. Also this is the best way to avoid issues with scholastic dishonesty.

For the purposes of this class please use the APA Style Citation for all assignments that will be incorporated into our master plan. Please see the APA Crib Sheet at the end of the Syllabus for more information. 

We will also determine a specific format for submitting information to the master plan, so that each individual is recognized in their contribution to our collective effort. It is likely that we will have assignments submitted electronically via email for ease of compiling our master plan.

University of Minnesota Policy on Scholastic Misconduct:

Scholastic Misconduct is broadly defined as “any act that violates the rights of another student in academic work or that involves misrepresentation of your own work.” Scholastic dishonesty includes, (but is not necessarily limited to): cheating on assignments or examinations; plagiarizing which means misrepresenting as your own work any part of work done by another; submitting the same paper or substantially similar papers, to meet the requirements of more than one course without approval and consent of all instructors concerned; depriving another student of necessary course materials; or interfering with another student’s work.

Disabilities Statement:

It is University policy to provide, on a flexible and individualized basis, reasonable accommodations to student who have disabilities that may affect their ability to participate in course activities or to meet course requirements. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact one of the instructors early in the quarter to discuss their individual needs for accommodations.