The University of Guelph is officially opened the Guelph Centre for Urban Organic Farming and students of all ages will learn about local organic food production and resource conservation. President Alastair Summerlee said during a grand opening celebration “it’s all about preparing younger generations for a different kind of future.” The opening celebration is attended by Guelph mayor Karen Farbridge and Robert Gordon, the new dean of the Ontario Agricultural College.
Summerlee said “this innovative centre will provide practical experiential learning opportunities for our students which in the long run will help bring about changes and improvement to our food system.” The farm is located on a one hectare at the northwest corner of the Arboretum, this will also serve as a community networking center. The three non-governmental agencies like the Canadian Organic Growers, the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario and FarmStart have been involved in both the planning and initial planting.
Prof. Ann Clark of the Department of Plant Agriculture said “We are not simply operating a market garden but also preparing society for greater self-sufficiency in healthy and nutritious food with less dependence on fossil fuel energy and scarce water resource.” The knowledge student’s gain will be both practical and useful.
A commercial organic market gardener Martha Gay Scroggins will coordinate the center. She will oversee teaching and practical learning opportunities as part of University of Guelph’s major in organic agriculture. Clark and Prof. Paul Voroney of the Department of Land Resource Science introduced the organic major in 2002. It was the first program of its kind in North America and it is still the only academic organic major offered in Canada.

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Posted on September 5th, 2008 by ichatmedia
Filed under: Organic Advocate, Organic Gardening, organic farming