Teaching Sustainability Using an On-Farm Community Supported Agriculture Framework Constance L. Falk 1, New Mexico State University Professor, Dept. of Agricultural Economics & Agricultural Business, Las Cruces, NM In 2002, faculty in the College of Agriculture and Home Economics established the OASIS 2 project, an organic Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) venture, with support from a 3-year USDA Hispanic Serving Institutions grant. This was the first organic garden on the NMSU main campus, the first organic production class, the first CSA venture in southern New Mexico, and the first known organic CSA class in an Honors program in the country. The objectives of OASIS were to: provide students with a multi-disciplinary experiential educational opportunity, investigate the feasibility of small scale organic drip irrigated farming in the Chihuahuan desert demonstrate the CSA model to the local community, trial vegetable varieties, provide a site where faculty can conduct research The objectives of OASIS were to: provide students with a multi-disciplinary experiential educational opportunity, investigate the feasibility of small scale organic drip irrigated farming in the Chihuahuan desert demonstrate the CSA model to the local community, trial vegetable varieties, provide a site where faculty can conduct research  OASIS student employee Alisha Antonio (right) at distribution, summer 2004 OASIS students Alex Benitez and Yafa Lamm planting the first spring crop in   Preliminary experiments on use of mylar mulch (left) and kaolin clay (right) on tomatoes to disrupt transmission of curly top virus by beat leaf hoppers in tomatoes were conducted in summer OASIS Planting Area: 2/3 acre for vegetables. 53 beds, 150 ft. long, 42 inches wide. 1/10 acre field for flowers and herbs. OASIS Weeks of Harvest: 33-34, early April until the week before Thanksgiving. OASIS Planting Area: 2/3 acre for vegetables. 53 beds, 150 ft. long, 42 inches wide. 1/10 acre field for flowers and herbs. OASIS Weeks of Harvest: 33-34, early April until the week before Thanksgiving. 1 Photographs by Connie Falk 2 Organic Agriculture Students Inspiring Sustainability OASIS Class Requirements Individual creative project and oral presentation Group Project: Farm Plan Oral presentation on creative project 20 work hours per semester, outside of class times Article summaries and critiques Service Learning activity for Honors students  OASIS members and co-instructor Erin Silva (left) participate d in a melon variety taste test, summer Spring 1,2793,8212,7644,3053,503 Summer 16,56910,13512,65311,13113,070 Fall 2,2632,5042,9125,1843,041 Total 20,11116,46018,32920,62019,614 Volume of Vegetable and Herb Production by Season in Pounds #Full/Half Veggies 5 / 2710 / 5910 / 5012 / 5614 / 52 #Full/Half Flowers 0020 / 1624 / 1123 / 12 # Veggie Members # Full Share Equivalents Gross Income ($) 9,00023,00026,78128,58527,835 Shares, Memberships, and Income Reaching the next generation: OASIS hosted many visitors such as high school students ↑ and became a draw for members’ children # of Varieties / Crops Veggies124/ 35116/ 3399/ /3394 / 30 Herbs10/ 815/ 1214/ 1118 /13 Flowers12/ 529/ 2044/ 3090/ 5684 / 34 Number of Varieties & Crops Collaborations across campus -Fertility: Digested alfalfa fertilizer in drip system in engineering -Database: Students in business classes designed crop database -Washing station design & fabrication: Engineering students -Weeding: Goats supplied by animal science OASIS student employee Martin Sanchez sells fruit to members and the public. OASIS sold fruit shares, organic pecans, eggs, winter squash, sparkling organic cider, beef, and pork for various local producers. .  OASIS students Andy Girón and Andrea Padilla transplanting, fall ↑ In 2006, OASIS student employee Travis Romany created the Well-O-Gram program to deliver OASIS bouquets, donated by members, to local health care centers. Value of Experiential Education in Teaching Sustainable Food Systems Students: 1.Combine their hearts, hands, minds. 2.Learn about systems thinking by interacting in a system. 3.Prepare transplants and plant, weed, harvest, & distribute crops. 4.Interact with CSA members and participate in consumer feedback exercises (taste and recipe tests). 5.Become engaged on larger issues of poverty, hunger, biodiversity, and the relationship between soil, human, and community health. 6.Help create and undertake research projects that emanate from practical on-farm challenges. 7.Help build community networks and social capital. Examples of Student Creative Projects -How to build a bat house and attract bats to your farm -Dramatic live action portrayal of the aphid life cycle -Installation of gardens in schools and community centers -Bio-intensive garden designs and production analysis -Ceramic representations of cellular plant structures -Statewide CSA survey -Analysis of food costs at OASIS vs. local groceries -OASIS member satisfaction surveys -Documentaries/radio interviews with local organic farmers -Profitability analysis of organic and conventional cotton -Evaluation of organic cotton gin trash as a potting soil medium Examples of outcomes of OASIS - Sustainability club formed on campus, also named OASIS, which organized a city-wide Earth Day, a sustainability film series, made a formal presentation to the president on the Taillores Declaration, and will host a campus-wide World Café conversation on sustainability -Our graduates have gone on to farm organically on the Navajo reservation, start an organic farm at the Tucson food pantry, interview organic farmers in an MS program in Ohio, become an extension agent, start an organic farm in Utah. -Research grants >$500,000 have been awarded in connection with the program -Provided detailed five-year history of field production for ~500 varieties of organic vegetables, flowers, herbs Stephanie Pritchett harvests, spring 2004  Chloe Hollis offers fruit to student volunteers building a garden at a youth correctional facility, spring Luz Hernandez harvests, spring 