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Spring Valley EcoFarms is addressing the need to develop future farmers and environmentally conscious people. We do this through participatory growth. Spring Valley EcoFarms currently works with dynamic students, entrepreneurs, schools, volunteers and scientists to build a farm that features many compatible applications. We are (on a small, human scale) providing a “real” farm environment where one can encounter a “little bit of everything” that makes up a farm.
In today's climate, it's become obvious that there is a concrete need for site specific research, agricultural training at all ages and raising general awareness of environmental issues to ensure local economic stability. There is a real interest in cultivating self-sustaining practices and getting people from all cross-sections of society a little more plugged into nature. Spring Valley EcoFarms can help.
Read on to see the recent results of the Sustainable Agriculture
Summit – Focus on the Future. The event took place on June 12, 2008 at
Fort
Valley
State
University .
The Spring Valley EcoFarms' mission and objectives are in line with the needs detected during the
Summit .
Click here to read the executive report.
Introduction to Spring Valley EcoFarms:Restoring Georgia's Natural Capital
Film credits: Laurie Fowler, UGA River Basin Center, Katie Smith M.S. candidate -UGA Conservation Ecology, Kathleen Frey SVE member and M.S. candidate- UGA Conservation Ecology
Why do we exist? We exist because there is a need for agriculture that is environmentally friendly.
What constituency do we serve? We serve people who are concerned about the harmful effects of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizer pollution, and wish to learn alternative ways of producing food and fiber. These people would include undergraduate and graduate students, some of whom would like to become agricultural professionals, extension agents whose job it is to train farmers, conventional farmers who wish to transition to organic, urban dwellers who wish to have their own organic garden, and anyone else from the U.S. or abroad who is interested in a healthy and sustainable life style.
What services do we provide? We currently teach courses in organic agriculture at both the undergraduate and graduate level at the Univ. of Georgia. We would like to expand our training by offering courses, workshops, and internships to people outside the academic setting.
What needs of our constituency do we satisfy? The demand for organic products in many areas of the country is greater than the supply. An important reason is lack of organizations that can train organic farmers. We can satisfy that need, at least in part.
Who else provides such services? There are several Universities and Colleges that have courses or programs in organic/sustainable agriculture. There also are numerous private organizations that offer training to non-students. But as far as we know, there are no non-profit organizations that can give similar University accredited courses to students and non-students alike, that is, courses with academic rigor plus field laboratories and hands-on training.
How are we unique? Our training facility is a privately owned farm. Therefore we have much greater flexibility in experimenting with novel approaches to all aspects of agriculture than is possible on land owned by a College of Agriculture. Nevertheless, research on the farm is carried out through grants given to a Research University, and courses on the farm are accredited by a University. Thus we have the best of two worlds – the detailed expertise of specialists at the University plus the freedom to cross disciplinary boundaries, a freedom often not found in academia.
Spring Valley EcoFarms announces the return of ORGANIC AGRICULTURE: AN ECOSYSTEM APPROACH
This course offers the same experience and training as the engaging and well-known organic agriculture course offered through the Odum School of Ecology and accredited by the University of Georgia. The class is a unique collaboration between an NGO (Spring Valley Ecofarms), an academic unit (the UGA Agroecology Laboratory), and a commercial organic farm (Full Moon Farms).
Participants will spend three full weeks at a 100 acre site where agro-ecological research is being conducted alongside non-profit and for-profit ventures including a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).
Course dates: May 12th-June 3rd 2009.
The program combines a little theory, a little research, and lots of practical field experience. This course is appropriate for all adults seeking to become broadly initiated into organic farming. Classes take place all day, every day at Spring Valley EcoFarms, just 5 miles from the UGA campus in Athens.
Subjects include organic cropping systems, weed and water management, biodiversity, disease and pest management, intensive pasture management, policy, ethics, and much more.
THIS CLASS IS FULL. Please drop us a note if you are interested in a late spring/ summer session info@springvalleyecofarms.org
SVE has a new animal application !
Farming with horse power
May 2009
Photos and Editorial By Kathleen Frey
A farmer needs iron-willed energy to turn over the earth and deposit the next batch of seeds for a new crop. Tractors dominate this starring role on farms large and small. At the same time, plenty of
evidence points to these efficient machines as sources of climate-warming carbon dioxide in the air we breathe. Machines have and will probably continue to do a lion’s share of the work in agriculture. But an economically and ecologically attractive alternative exists for small-scale farmers with extra time and money: horse-drawn plows.
In 1919, the number of farm horses in the United States peaked at 21 million, according to an article in the British science journal Nature. At the same time, 20 percent of the country’s arable land was needed to feed the hard-working creatures. The advent of electric motors resulted, of course, in the exodus of horses from the farms. The horses took with them a valuable (and inexpensive) source of fertilizer, as well the direct link between a farmer and her land.
Dr. Carl Jordan, owner of Spring Valley EcoFarms, welcomed his freshly trained draught team, Marlon and Duke, back to the farm this month.
The horses will be yet another experiment to discover how best to use the services of nature to sustain the environment—including the soil, water, and air. Marlon, 5, and Duke, 4, are both male horses with power-packed genes. Thor, a Belgian draft breed, sired both; their mother is Sally, a Georgia Quarter horse breed.
In the coming summer months, the horse team will spend much of their time harnessed to a wagon made of maple wood by Mennonite builders in Ohio. The wagon—able to seat 10 people—will be available on special occasions for tours around the farm. Meanwhile, the horses’ handlers will continue a yearlong training process that will result in Marlon
and Duke pulling a plow in a designated field on the property. The energetic beauties spend every moment of their lives outdoors. As Spring Valley EcoFarms continues to grow, the horses will be closer to a barn of their own.
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