Sustainability, Tropical Agriculture & Development

biol/agric/geog 343 - Costa Rica - May Session

For science and non-science majors alike, STAD is an introduction to sustainability and tropical agriculture with applications for working with resource-poor farmers. Topics include the scientific basis of low-cost techniques, tropical crops and their requirements, and on-site work. Issues in sustainability and justice, culture and language, missions and community development, urban gardening and small animal techniques are also covered in the context of agricultural employment and economy. This course covers various tours that include coffee, chocolate, and pineapple plantations, several trips to different ecosystem regions, and visits to local farms. (4 credits)

Field, Applied

Professor: Dr. Eric Nord

Costa Rica Program Coordinator: Tomás Dozier, ADE

Meets: Monday - Friday

knowledge gained

Learning the major staple, fruit, and vegetable crops grown in the tropics and their particular needs and limitations

Introduction to soil science for agriculture

Practices of agroforestry, composting, small animal farming, and biogas systems in tropical environments

Understanding of key development issues, such as how to enter a community, approaches to extension, and exploring different in-country living arrangements

Understanding tropical ecosystems, climate, and biomes

Skills Developed

Taxonomy of tropical agriculture plants

Ability to identify major plant families with important crops and understand the chemical characteristics of those families

Soil assessment and improvement techniques

Horticulture techniques, such as planting, grafting, and pruning

Communication techniques for conveying tropical agriculture practices in local communities, practiced through sharing tropical agriculture practices in the town of Vara Blanca

Colloquialism and approaches to fast language learning

Practices on how to best integrate into a community that effectively supports the growth of the local Church

Biblical understanding of God’s call in our lives and how to respond

field Experiences

Previous classes have visited small dairy and strawberry farms in the mountains, small, diverse, farms in both wet and arid lowland areas; successful agricultural co-ops for coffee, sugarcane, cacao and organic bananas; agricultural researchers and field experiments at Univ. of Costa Rica, EARTH Univ., CATIE (Center for Research and Education in Tropical Agriculture - an international research program).  This is not primarily a farming techniques course, but we do some fieldwork half-days on farms. 

For our Au Sable integrative sessions, during the last four years, we have visited the actively steaming crater of Poas Volcano Natl. Park and the cloud forest around the crater at 9,000 ft.; Caihuita Natl. Park, a shore and estuary ecosystem on the Caribbean near Panama; the Organization for Tropical Studies research station at La Selva, a lowland rainforest area near the Nicaraguan border; the watershed area of Arenal Volcano Natl. Park, an actively erupting, classical cone, with many hot springs.

Au Sable Partners with the Association for Development through Education (ADE) to deliver this course.