Training the next generation of fruit and vegetable growers

By MALCOLM ROBERTSON, Leopold Center program leader

Here’s a challenge: how do you teach students to plan, manage, market and make money growing food crops, all during class time and within a growing season that extends beyond the typical school year?

That was the task for Horticulture Enterprise Management 465, a class developed two years ago in the ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Offered every semester, plus summer sessions, the three-credit senior-level course is listed in the departments of Horticulture and Agricultural Education and Studies. I am the instructor and have been working with faculty in both departments and at the ISU Horticulture Station north of Ames to create this new curriculum.

The challenge was huge, just like the challenges faced by young people who want to enter agriculture. And nowhere are those challenges more prevalent than in Iowa, the country’s top corn- and soybean-producing state.

Two of the key limiting barriers for new and beginning farmers would appear to be a direct result of the modern intensive corn and soybean production system found in the state.

1) First, farmland has become hard to acquire with its cost per acre rising almost exponentially since the mid-1980s (Figure 1). This barrier emerged, in part, due to ag policy support, which has greatly incentivized the production of corn and soybeans by supporting research for those crops and helping farmers manage production risks. One way to deal with this barrier is to grow fruit and vegetables, which require less land and have lower startup costs and capital outlay than traditional corn and soybean operations. Consumer demand for regionally grown produce also has increased in recent years so there is a ready market.

2)

The second barrier often relates to demographics of the farming population. According to the most recent Census of Agriculture done in 2007, the average age of an Iowa farmer is 56, which has increased from 47 in the last 20 years. During that same period, the percentage of farmers over age 65 went up while the number of farmers under 35 fell (Figure 2). Generally the older we get, the less likely we are to take risks, so older growers probably are less willing to diversify from traditional crops into fruit and vegetable production, so the industry is wide open for young, beginning farmers. We certainly need more, younger growers in Iowa who are willing to take risks on new ventures.

The class focuses on management and operation of diversified horticultural enterprises in an Iowa farm situation. The intention of the course is that the students manage the finances and decide what crops to grow on their plot of land at the ISU Horticulture Station north of Ames. They also plant and tend those crops, and find markets for their harvest.

The course is structured as a business, and ultimately will be guided by the decisions made by five student committees: finance, operations, production, marketing and business. The aim is that each committee investigates the feasibility of a desired enterprise according to the demands of their respective areas before coming together under the direction of the business committee to make a final decision.

AgEdS/Hort 465 is a senior-level capstone course with non-major graduate-level credit allowed. Students attend classroom lectures on business and market planning which include basic risk management, financial management and decision-making for short-, medium- and long-term viability of the AgEdS/Hort 465 enterprises. Class discussions and activities help them apply what they’ve learned from other courses and give them a critical learning experience in a real-life, practical setting. The importance of communication and planning are emphasized throughout the semester.

During its second year in 2012, AgEdS/Hort 465 continued to develop as a unique, on-farm laboratory for students. Most of the produce was sold to Iowa State University Dining Services, as well as a local restaurant and retail store. We have not reached a “critical mass” yet as far as student numbers, but the outlook is good due to a 100 percent increase in enrollment during 2012.

Here’s the ISU catalog description, which also serves as the class mission statement:
On-farm learning gives students hands-on experience in horticultural enterprise planning (business plan development, budgeting, crop scheduling, record keeping and marketing); crop production (crop nutrition, crop protection, food safety and postharvest handling); and, practical implementation of the decisions made by the class.

It is critical that we start looking for ways to address the barriers that inhibit the young farmer from getting onto the land. In an attempt to produce a new generation of young farmers, AgEdS/Hort 465 course is deeply focused on developing a well-grounded program and providing practical experience from the first to the last step involved in running a horticultural production enterprise.

Photo: Kevin Sullivan and Leah Riesselman adjust the tarp on the high tunnel that they helped construct.

What do students think? horticulture students

Kevin Sullivan, a senior in horticulture, had never grown crops in anything larger than his parents’ garden in Cedar Rapids. But he wasn’t discouraged by last summer’s drought, which posed unique problems with many of their crops.

“You get hardships wherever you go,” he said, explaining how mice ate the first planting of watermelon seeds, heat stress slowed tomato bloom and then wind caused considerably breakage later in the season.

Sullivan and senior classmate Kyle Tester shared their experiences during a field day at the Horticulture Station in late July. The presentation gave them an opportunity to evaluate what they had learned over the summer.

“Unlike my other classes where you learn how things grow, here we actually do it,” Tester said. “This course is about what we can learn from our mistakes. It’s been great to learn these lessons in a business, knowing that it’s not your own money but it could be.”

Photo: Kevin Sullivan (center, with microphone) and Kyle Tester (center left, with straw hat) speak at the field day.

What we learned in 2011 students with water tank

Mini-tunnel: The class had access to a mini-tunnel at the Horticulture Station for an early season crop of tomatoes. Bed preparation, which included laying black plastic mulch and sub-surface drip irrigation, occurred in early April and seedlings were planted in mid-April. Row covers were used initially to protect the crop from late frost and enhance early growing conditions. Crop harvest continued into late July and early August.

Field production: The spring 2011 class selected four crops for summer production: one-quarter acre of onions (sets and direct seeded), one-quarter acre of watermelons, one-eighth acre of tomatoes and one-eighth acre of potatoes. Late spring rains delayed land preparation and planting operations. Cornstalk mulch between rows promoted long-term soil health, and reduced weed pressure and the need for chemical inputs. Due to the delayed arrival of a system to apply nutrients and chemicals, no applications were done on any of the crops. Irrigation scheduling was determined through the use of tensiometers positioned for each crop.

Photo: Class members pose by a water tank (from left): Dylan Rolfe, Holden Nyhus, Benjamin Metcalf and Laura Kleiman.

What we learned in 2012 students planting

High tunnel construction: One of the highlights was construction of a high tunnel by students, with help from ISU Hort Farm staff. The high tunnel provides an opportunity to produce early and late season crops for the local market. The first fall crop in the tunnel will be cauliflower, spinach and mesclun greens.

Field production: The class used similar cultivation practices as the previous year but they planted peppers instead of potatoes. They also planted the class’ first perennial crop, asparagus, in a small plot adjacent to the main production land.

Photo: Benjamin Metcalf oversees onion transplanting by Laura Kleiman and Holden Nyhus.

News

Training the next generation of fruit and vegetable growers

What do students think?

What we learned in 2011

What we learned in 2012