"A Day at the Farm" Redux and Congressional Recognition

Many greetings and a happy 2008 to you all. Life is quiet but still quite busy at the farm and gardens. The cover crop has reached knee high, a hardy few food crops tough out the January cold, and we turn our attention to pruning the 500 or so fruit trees that populate this place. There are just seven of us here in this six month interim before the apprenticeship program begins anew in April. Counting feline friends, we are 11.

This post is primarily an early heads up for another "Day at the Farm" event that I'm planning to host in mid May or June. This time around, we'll be gathering in the three acre Alan Chadwick garden on the north side of campus where I will be working until November of this year. The Chadwick garden is home to steep slopes, beautiful vegetation, and over 100 varieties of apple trees. I'll keep you updated as to date, time, and workshops as the calendar sorts itself out.

I also thought I'd share a statement that our local congressman, Sam Farr, made in the House of Representatives last fall in honor of the farm's 40th year. Congressman Farr's remarks are a reminder that, little by little, a new appreciation of food safety and sustainability is taking root in our national consciousness and in our government.


Congressional Record of the 110th Congress: In Honor of the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, October 4, 2007

House of Representatives
The Honorable Sam Farr
of California

"Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor one of the most prominent centers of agricultural research and education in the world on the occasion of its 40th anniversary. The Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS), located on the campus of the University of California at Santa Cruz, enjoys a reputation as the Harvard of organic farming.

While this reputation is well deserved, it did not come easily to the UCSC Farm, as CASFS is more commonly known. The program began life in 1967 as an obscure 4-acre organic garden tucked away in a disused and unnoticed corner of the UCSC campus. It was birthed by master gardener Alan Chadwick, who inspired a group of students to convert a dry hillside into a magnificent terraced garden that incorporated the latest techniques in chemical-free horticulture and reflected the back-to-the-land Zeitgeist of the day. In 1972, the project expanded onto another unused campus site where garden participants began a 17-acre, later 25-acre, experimental organic farm. There they set out to explore ways of improving and applying organic farming techniques. Throughout the 1970s, the little UCSC Farm community quietly grew, with a mixture of a little campus support, some creative grant writing, and the sales of its farm produce. A steady stream of student apprentices advanced through the constantly evolving program. By the 1980s, the UCSC Farm had come to a crossroads. Could it reach beyond the little world of the UCSC campus and help shape the broader world of agriculture?

While the UCSC campus family welcomed the project, the broader UC system didn't know what to do with it. It didn't have any formal accredidation and it was not located on one of the UC land grant institutes where agriculture was supposed to happen. It simply lacked the necessary pedigree to secure an official and funded place within the University of California system. As the State Assemblymember representing the Monterey Bay Area during the 1980s, I had the honor of securing a line for the UCSC Farm in the State's higher education budget. In 1990, I authored the California Organic Standards Act, which was largely shaped by the work at the UCSC Farm and the Santa Cruz community of organic growers that had grown up in its neighborhood.

Since entering Congress, I have worked hard to share the story of the UCSC Farm's important work with my colleagues. Congress has responded with a total of over $3 million in direct appropriations to the UCSC Farm since 2000 to assist with its important research and extension work with the rapidly expanding organic farming sector. Indeed, the UCSC Farm's influence has been far-reaching, inspiring many sustainable agricultural programs at other universities, including UC Riverside, Cal Poly, and USDA's Agricultural Research Service.

Madam Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I pass on the congratulations of the House to all the people who have worked so hard over the course of the past 40 years to make the UCSC Farm such a great success."