Agroecology degree programs

Despite its primary focus as an OARDC interdisciplinary research program, AMP continues to work towards assisting academic units with creating curriculum and degree programs in agroecology and sustainable agriculture.

Associate Degree Program, 2 yr – AMP has facilitated the external advisory committee and assisted ATI faculty with exploring a new associate degree program in sustainable and organic agriculture.  A survey is currently being conducted to assess the needs, interests and content areas for the program.

Bachelors Degree Program, 4 yr – Discussions with CFAES academic departments are ongoing for a BS in agroecology/sustainable agriculture, and a student farm as a resource for such a program and hands-on learning opportunity for CFAES and other OSU students.

Graduate Programs – In addition to interdisciplinary special topics courses offered by AMP faculty, an Agroecosystems Science Track has been proposed for the Environmental Science Graduate Program (ESGP).  The guidelines for such tracks within the ESGP program are currently being addressed by the Curriculum and Graduate committees.

Contact Casey Hoy, hoy.1@osu.edu, Wesley Greene (ATI), greene.2@osu.edu, or Richard Moore (ESGP), moore.11@osu.edu, for more information.

Agroecosystem Health Initiative – Assessing Agricultural Resources in Natural and Social Terms

We have often had requests from stakeholders for a methodology to assess Ohio agroecosystems and visualize their current state.  Agroecosystems include both people and the land, and function at watershed, community, and landscape scales.  Sustainable management of land and water resources requires a complex balance between environmental, social and economic objectives. More…

Balancing Nutrient and Carbon Management in Crop Systems and Riparian Buffers

Our long-term goal with this project is to develop understanding of ecosystem processes that will encourage adoption of sustainable agroecosystem management practices for improved water quality.  Non-point source pollution from agriculture is a serious problem in the upper Midwest where current agricultural practices contribute significantly to the hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Our central tenet is that reducing agriculture’s footprint on streams, rivers and oceans will require a multi-faceted landscape ecology approach that integrates ecosystem research at multiple scales. More….

Carbon Cycling and Sequestration in Conventional and Organic Cropping Systems

Agricultural soils may help decrease the threat of global warming by removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and using the carbon (C) in those gases to build soil organic matter in the process of carbon sequestration. More….

Collaboration among OARDC Interdisciplinary Programs

It is becoming increasingly clear that an overarching question for Ohio is how to have viable, expanding agriculture and rural communities within an increasingly urban and suburban state. The issues of rapid development of agricultural land, the social acceptability of consolidation within the livestock industry, increasing concerns over agriculture’s impact on water and air quality, and decline in the number of young people pursuing careers in agriculture all indicate the challenges to agricultural sustainability. At the same time, Ohio can demonstrate leadership in sustaining agriculture as a foundation of our future through holistic and interdisciplinary approaches to solving problems and creating opportunities. More….

Collaboration with the Small Farm Institute

AMP has had extensive collaboration with the Small Farm Institute, a non-profit organization that is the result of a partnership with the Ohio Governor’s Office of Appalachia, Ohio State University/Ohio Agriculture Research and Development Center and North Appalachian Experimental Watershed Station at the Coshocton Agriculture Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. More….

Collaboration with the USDA – North Appalachian Experimental Watershed Research Facility at Coshocton, Ohio

The North Appalachian Experimental Watershed (NAEW) is a unique outdoor laboratory that develops innovative farming practices and tests their effects on soil, water, and air.  The research location was established as a conservation station in the late 1930’s to study the effects of soils, land management, geology, and climate on hydrology, soil erosion, and sediment production. More….

Collaborations with the Innovative Farmers of Ohio and Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association

The Agroecosystems Management Program has had numerous projects and shared activities with the Innovative Farmers of Ohio (IFO), a non-profit, state-wide organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture and the Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association (OEFFA), the state’s primary organic farming advocacy and certification group. More….

Contributions to Urban Landscape Ecology Project

The green industry has grown tremendously during the past few decades.  According to PLACA, homeowners in the US alone spent $17.4 billion on professional lawn care, landscape, and tree care services in 2000.  However, banning of highly effective products, stringent regulations by local governments on the use of chemical pesticides and inorganic fertilizers, chemical and nutrient run-off issues, and changing public perception about the safety of chemical pesticides to the environment and human health, have created new challenges for the continued growth of the lawn and landscape industry. More….

Demonstrating Ecologically Based Management for Research and Education on the OARDC Campus at Wooster

During the past several years and under the leadership of the Secrest Arboretum, a number of projects are under development that will demonstrate the benefits of ecological approaches to managing landscapes.  Participants in AMP have been involved in some of these planning activities. The goal of this effort is to outline a comprehensive ecological approach to the OARDC campus landscape planning. More….

Development of a Multi-State Consortium Directed Toward Organic Agriculture Research and Education

The Ohio State University led the effort to create the Organic Agriculture Consortium (OAC) with the goal of catalyzing new opportunities for small and mid-sized farm families through integrating multidisciplinary research, education, and extension of organic agriculture, a rapidly growing sector of the US food industry.  Major support was provided by a USDA Integrated Food and Farming Systems grant. Four universities and over 20 research and extension faculty participated in this project. Collaborative work built capacity beyond what one organization could do and was organized around three objectives. More….

Farmland Preservation, Land Use and Economic Development Activities in Northeast Ohio

AMP helped established a group of community leaders from the agricultural communities of Wayne, Holmes and Ashland Counties who serve as a sounding board and advisory council for improving agricultural opportunities in the area.  This group has grown to include twelve members and includes those from county government, farm organizations, financial and agricultural businesses as well as farmers.  More….

Interdisciplinary Coursework – Linking Stakeholders and Students

Agriculture Interdisciplinary 694: Our Food and Our Land in the 21st Century, a course offered winter quarter in 2001, brought nine of OSU’s stakeholders into the classroom. After participating in the course students came to understand that making a living on Ohio’s landscapes and acting as a responsible citizen is a highly complex undertaking that requires broad understanding and a great capacity to balance and integrate the interests of many.  More….

K-12 Curriculum Development and the Jason Project

AMP has participated in several statewide initiatives to include agriculture into general K-12 curricula for Ohio.  Mapping lessons were created to support the JASON Project in 1999.  These lessons are currently available as an Internet mapping program offered statewide so that schools can access the lessons with widely available web browsers. The lessons are currently off-line but we would be happy to entertain requests for the curriculum. Contact Casey Hoy hoy.1@osu.edu  for more information.

Land Use Changes, Exurban Studies and Food System Assessment

Drs. Jeff Sharp, Elena Erwin and Jill Clark in collaboration with the Swank Chair in Rural Urban Interface, Mark Partridge, lead the Exurban Change Project with the objective of analyzing economic, social, agricultural and land use change throughout Ohio’s townships, regions, and rural areas. The overall goal of the project is to perform applied research on these topics and to disseminate data and research results to local officials, professionals, and interested citizens to support their planning and decision-making.  More….

Landscape Ecology of Invasive Weeds

A survey of invasive plants in the Apple Creek Watershed has been completed focusing on garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata).  The study created a model for understanding the movement of a relatively rapidly spreading invasive plant species and compared two sampling methods - a roadside survey and a random sampling of 100 1-ha sites. The occurrence of this plant based on each sampling method and using both methods combined was mapped. More….

Linking Soil Management, Pest Management and Crop Health

This project is providing agroecosystem management strategies to optimize management of soil organic matter, nutrient cycling processes, pest management and crop health. In previous work, it has been shown that, under controlled situations, crops grown under long term organic management had resistance to certain insect pests, and that this finding was related to soil biological and chemical characteristics. More….

Ohio to Japan Innovative Marketing of Soybeans

A USDA Innovative Food and Farming Systems grant partially funded several trips to Japan to:

1. Size up the transitional organic soybean market.  “Transitional” refers to the three years of transition necessary for conventional farmers to become certified under organic certification standards, and
2. Target the Japan Consumer Cooperatives as a potential partner based on a new trade and distribution system related to environmental improvement and mutual social concerns of people over food health and safety.

OSU’s John E. Hirzel Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Site

This demonstration and research site was established in partnership with The Agricultural Incubator Foundation of Bowling Green to promote, through research, demonstration, and education, vital agricultural systems in northwest Ohio, that are economically, ecologically and socially sustainable. More….

Partnerships and Projects with Extension’s Sustainable Agricultural Team

The Agroecosystems Management Program maintains close association with the Sustainable Agriculture Team of Ohio State University Extension.  This multidisciplinary Extension group has the charge of promoting sustainable production practices and innovative marketing programs for Ohio.  Collaborative projects include monthly conference calls, fact sheets and bulletins on sustainable agriculture, field days and workshops highlighting farmer and farmer/researcher, a travel/internship program for extension agents, development of new approaches to crop and livestock production, and direct marketing, and numerous professional development activities for extension agents directed at sustainability issues in agriculture.

Contact Mike Hogan, hogan.1@osu.edu, or Alan Sundermeier, sundermeier.5@osu.edu , for more information.

Sugar Creek Watershed Restoration – A Community Based Approach to Ecosystem Management

A stakeholder watershed alliance of farmers, university and agencies was formed in response to the Ohio EPA’s selection of the Sugar Creek as a target for planning and restoration because it was the second most impaired watershed in Ohio.  Farmers, other land owners, municipalities and industry within the watershed, faced with costly corrective measures to meet EPA regulatory water quality standards, proactively took the opportunity to improve their environmental quality and resource base while creating a model system for community wide response to a major environmental issue. More….

Supporting the Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy 

Cuyahoga Valley National Park was founded “for preserving and protecting for public use and enjoyment, the historic, scenic, natural and recreational values of the Cuyahoga River and the adjacent lands of the Cuyahoga Valley.”  The Countryside Initiative will preserve the agricultural heritage of the Valley where historically 80% of the land was once farmed. More….

Sustainable Agriculture to a Wider Audience:  Developing a Model Project with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra in Clark County Ohio

This project addressed the long-term outcome of bringing the story of sustainable agriculture to wider audiences of both farm and non-farm backgrounds.  The goal was accomplished through collaboration between agriculture and the arts professionals employing the unique communication capabilities of music combined with photography to promote sustainable agriculture. The effort emphasized the themes of the best in agricultural practices, ecology and esthetics of the land, and farming as a culture and way of life. More….

The Mellinger Farm

In 2002, the Ohio State University Board of Trustees accepted the donation of The Mellinger Farm from Patricia Miller Quinby and the estate of her sister, Virginia Miller Reed.  Three quarters interest in the property now belongs to OARDC; with the remainder to be donated in 2009.  While the property remains in partnership, the Farm will continue to be managed by the private farm management company that has been overseeing the farm for Mrs. Quinby. More….

The Ohio Local Food Systems Collaborative (OLFSC)

This project is a collaboration among the many individuals and organizations involved with producing, processing, distributing, retailing food within localities and regions.  The project was the outcome of the first annual Stinner Summit, a gathering with the goal of choosing one project to which all participants can contribute, one that will build healthy agroecosystems and sustainable communities. More….