Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture

Course Description

AOM 1465C Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture covers the principles and techniques of organic and sustainable crop production: the biological, social and economic parts of a farming system. It runs from soil and water management and pest control through harvest, post-harvest handling, marketing of organic products, and organic policy and regulation. The statewide description says it "begins with a brief history of agriculture from its original inception, to the Green Revolution in the mid-1900s, to the current push for sustainability in its various forms."

⚠ One institution in Florida teaches it: Valencia College, in Orlando, at 3 credits. The C suffix marks an integrated lecture and lab course; Valencia's catalog lists it at 3 credits, with 3 lecture hours and 1 lab hour a week.

Where it sits at Valencia

The course belongs to Valencia's A.S. in Landscape and Horticulture Technology (60 credits), in three ways:

• ⚠⚠ Required in the Sustainable Agriculture Specialization, which is "designed for students specializing in edible crop production." It is paired there with IPM 1301C Principles of Integrated Pest Management.
• An alternative to ORH 1510C Ornamental Plant Materials in the Horticulture Specialization (nursery and greenhouse operations).
• An approved elective for the degree and for Valencia's landscape and horticulture certificate.

Its program outcomes, from the specialization, are to "develop and use tools to assess the sustainability of agricultural operations" and to "design a crop management program."

⚠ Do not confuse it with AOM 1050C, Valencia's Introduction to Organic Farming and Gardening Technician. That is a self-paced overview of the USDA National Organic Program built in modules, and it "does not satisfy the general education requirement for science." AOM 1465C is the broader course: sustainability as a whole system, of which certified organic is one form.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Trace the history of agriculture from its origins through the Green Revolution to current sustainability movements, and explain what each stage gained and cost.
• Identify the biological, social and economic components of an organic or sustainable farming system, and explain how they interact.
• Describe current methods for certified organic production, and the steps and requirements of certification.
• Apply principles of soil and water management suited to Florida's sandy, low-organic-matter soils.
• Explain cultural practices, crop rotation and cover cropping as tools of soil fertility and pest control.
• Describe non-chemical and approved-input approaches to pest, weed and disease control.
• Describe harvest and post-harvest handling, and the marketing of organic products.
• Explain the policy and regulation of organic agriculture.
• Describe the current state of the food and agriculture system.
• Explain the basic concepts of permaculture.

Optional Outcomes

• Assess the sustainability of a real operation with a structured tool (Valencia's program outcome).
• Plan a small-plot crop rotation for Central Florida's seasons, including the summer fallow and cover-crop window.
• Compare direct-to-consumer marketing channels: farmers' markets, CSAs and restaurants.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• History of agriculture and the Green Revolution
• Defining sustainability: environmental, economic and social
• Organic certification under the USDA National Organic Program
• Soil health, compost and plant nutrition
• Water management and irrigation
• Cultural practices, rotation and cover crops
• Pest, weed and disease management
• Harvest and post-harvest handling
• Marketing organic and sustainable products
• Organic policy and regulation
• Permaculture

Optional Topics

• Hydroponics and controlled-environment production (taught in depth in Valencia's HOS 2005C)
• Urban agriculture and community gardens
• Food-safety rules for produce growers

Resources & Tools

• Gliessman, Agroecology: The Ecology of Sustainable Food Systems, a widely used text for this subject.
• SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, USDA) free books: Building Soils for Better Crops and Managing Cover Crops Profitably.
• The USDA National Organic Program regulations, 7 CFR Part 205, and the program's guidance on certification.
• UF/IFAS Extension (the EDIS publication library), for Florida-specific crop, soil and pest guidance.
• Valencia's own teaching garden and field trips. Expect outdoor lab work.

Career Pathways

• Farmers, ranchers and other agricultural managers (SOC 11-9013). See this site's Agricultural Manager career path, including its note on what a degree does and does not do for a would-be farmer.
• First-line supervisors of farming workers (SOC 45-1011), and crew leads on vegetable, nursery and greenhouse operations.
• Farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery and greenhouse (SOC 45-2092), the entry point for most people in production.
• Organic certification inspection, food-hub and farmers'-market management, and school and community garden coordination.
• ⚠ A financing note: the USDA Farm Service Agency's farm ownership loans accept "not less than 16 credit hours of post-secondary education in an agriculture-related field" as part of the farm-experience requirement (7 CFR 764.152). This course is three of those hours.

Special Information

Offering Notes

The only carrier is Valencia. The guide records 60 contact hours: Valencia's 3 lecture and 1 lab hours a week over a 15-week term.

Prerequisites and transfer

No prerequisite, in the statewide record or at Valencia. The course is in an A.S. (career) degree. Florida's common numbering guarantees transfer only to another institution that teaches the same number, and none does. ⚠ A university will normally treat it as elective credit. UF's upper-division AOM 4461 Sustainable Agricultural Systems is the nearest university course on the subject.

Organic certification: three facts worth knowing early

• Land must have had no prohibited substances applied for 36 months before a crop from it can be sold as organic.
• Operations selling $5,000 or less a year in organic products are exempt from certification, but must still follow the standards, and cannot use the USDA organic seal.
• Certification is done by USDA-accredited private certifiers, not by USDA directly.