"The data of the last studies with regard to our planet Earth are frightening. Our urgency is to reverse the damage created so that the closed system of our planet Earth can be, truly, in the entire sense of the world, sustainable.”

—Excerpted from the Davis Declaration,
March, 2000

The State of Agricultural Education

Sustainable Agriculture:
Research and Education

University of California-Davis
Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo

There is a need for more complete sustainability in agriculture. The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Initiative addresses this need through support of strong university programs in research and education in sustainable agriculture. This new University of California-Davis and Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo Sustainable Agriculture Program Initiative builds upon the basis that the most organic agricultural fertility in the soil in temperate zones occurs when the soil organic matter level reaches 4% to 6% (3% in tropical zones), and a shift in cropping patterns and marketing can up to double farm income. University Sustainable Agriculture programs will be strengthened with the addition of an endowed professorship in sustainable agriculture to serve as a focal and rallying point. Fellowships and internships in sustainable agriculture will encourage the brightest and most-motivated students to pursue this beneficial form of cultivation and will serve to support and enhance the research of the endowed professor.

The University of California-Davis—$11 million endowment
Agricultural Sustainability Institute:

• the endowment of one professorship in Soils in Sustainable Agriculture
  
  
• four full one-year fellowships and two one-year undergraduate internships in Sustainable Agriculture,
  
  
• the endowment of The Sustainable Agriculture Farming Systems Project (SAFS),
  
  
• Long-Term Research Program, which compares the effect of different agricultural practices on the soil, crop yields and income
  
  
• the endowment of the Student Farm to provide $60,000 for its budget annually
  

The Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo—$6.25 million endowment
College of Agriculture, Food & Environmental Science:

• the endowment of one professorship in Sustainable Agriculture,
  
  
• four full one-year fellowships and two one-year undergraduate internships in Sustainable Agriculture,
  
  
• the endowment of a part-time coordinator position through the Sustainable Agriculture Resource Consortium

“Numerous scholars and practitioners are trying to redress the imbalances in the global food system through the development of locally based alternatives founded on respect for the integrity of particular socio-geographic places...Embedded and central to these alternative local or regionally based food systems is a democratic and empowered community.”—William B. Lacy

• Detailed proposal available.

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