Campus Farming and Agrifood Education: Learning Sustainable Agriculture and Kinship With the Land2

Author: Chi-I Lin  ( Center for General Education, Si Wan College,National Sun Yat-sen University), Yuh-Yuh Li (Center for General Education, Si Wan College, National Sun Yat-sen University)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 68, No. 4
Date：December 2023
Pages：129-156
DOI：https://doi.org/10.6209/JORIES.202312_68(4).0005

Abstract：
In the Global Education 2030 Agenda, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2017) emphasized that addressing the imbalance between humans andnature and promoting sustainable agriculture to end hunger and ensure food security are among themost essential educational goals. Community-based agriculture can be a key driver of change (UNESCO, 2017). On April 22, 2015, the Japanese government began promoting food and agriculture education and established the Basic Act on the Promotion of Urban Agriculture. One of the proposed strategies in this act is to “start from education and establish roots.” Similarly, on April 19, 2022, Taiwan established the Food and Agriculture Education Act, which was promulgated on May 4, 2022. According to Article 1 of the Food and Agriculture Education Act, the goals of food and agriculture education are to promote nationwide food and agriculture education; strengthen the link between diet, environment, and agriculture; enhance national health; inherit and promote a culture of food and agricultural; promote sustainable development of rural areas, agriculture, and the environment; establish a sound national food and agriculture education system; and cultivate talent. The fundamental goal of food and agriculture education is to strengthen the connection between diet, environment, and agriculture. One strategy to achieve this goal is to focus on strengthening the connection between humans and nature.
The relationship between humans and the environment has not received considerable attention from scholars in the fields of the social sciences and humanities. However, scholars have begun to shift their focus toward the interaction between humans and the environment. Aldo Leopold, regarded as the father of environmental ethics, was the first scholar in the Western world to consider the relationship between humans and the environment. He introduced the concept of land ethics as a means of evaluating how humans should relate to their environment. According to Aldo Leopold’s land ethics, humans are members of a biotic community and must maintain the integrity of the land. Leopold emphasized the importance of the land, arguing that it is not merely a resource for human use but rather a mutually interdependent ecological community. Expanding on these reflections regarding humanity, Zalasiewicz et al. (2010) observed that human history has transitioned from the Holocene epoch to the Anthropocene epoch, a transition that began in approximately 1750. Consequently, humans have become the primary agents shaping the Earth’s environment. The challenge of the Anthropocene epoch, however, lies in the growing alienation between humans and the land, which has led to humans altering the natural environment and has posed a threat to the sustainable existence of human society.
Seeking to understand the kinship between humans and the land represents a humanistic approach to environmental ethics. Such an approach can be challenging to employ in traditional classroom settings to achieve target learning outcomes. In the present study, we investigated how agrifood education can foster an ecological perspective in university students that strengthens the connection between humans and the environment. In addition to imparting the principles of sustainable agriculture, a key objective of agrifood education is cultivating a sense of kinship with the land. Our primary research question was as follows: Beyond the acquisition of knowledge regarding sustainable agriculture, how and to what extent does the integration of information regarding small-scale farming practices into agrifood curricula enhance students’ sense of kinship with the land?
In accordance with postpositivist approaches, we adopted a sustainability transdisciplinary education model as a teaching strategy and established a small campus farm. This small campus farm was established to facilitate on-site learning regarding sustainable agriculture and related practices. By directly involving students in the farming experience, we sought to create a positive and enjoyable learning environment and foster a deep connection with the land. The campus farm served as a platform for integrating interdisciplinary knowledge regarding agrifood. Situated within the university campus, it combined the elements of the land, natural vitality, and a communal space. It enabled the students to understand the importance of preserving the natural environment and enhanced their understanding of the inherent and interconnected relationships between individuals and society as well as between individuals and the environment.
We used concept mapping and open-ended questions to gather research data at the beginning and end of a semester, and we analyzed data obtained from 111 undergraduate students. Concept maps were used to evaluate the students’ understanding of sustainable agricultural development. Subsequently, these concept maps were independently evaluated by two experts on the basis of predetermined criteria, and the interrater reliability was determined. To measure the students’ sense of connection to the land, an open-ended survey was conducted, and the textual content of the students’ responses was analyzed. This survey was conducted at two time points: at the beginning of the study and at the end of the study. The first part involved a thematic apperception test similar to that used in psychology, in which the students were presented with an image of a piece of land and asked to record their thoughts and associations with the image. In the second part, students werepresented with open-ended questions through which they were asked to express their ideas regarding different agricultural cultivation methods.
The research participants primarily comprised university students enrolled in a two-semester general education course on food and agriculture. These students were affiliated with various colleges within the university, including the College of Science, College of Engineering, College of Marine Sciences, College of Management, College of Social Sciences, and College of the Humanities and Arts. Most of the students had only a basic understanding of agriculture, with a few having a family background in farming. Male students accounted for 57.7% of the participants, and female students accounted for 42.3%. The distribution among academic years was as follows: 25.2% freshmen, 36.9% sophomores, 2.7% juniors, and 35.5% seniors.
Our results indicated the following. First, by the end of the course, the students’ understanding of and their attitude toward sustainable agriculture considerably improved. Second, the students’ sense of kinship with the land substantially improved. Third, the change in the students’ attitudes toward sustainable agriculture and their sense of kinship with the land correlated with their on-site campus farming experience. Fourth, concept mapping is an effective tool for evaluating students’ understanding of sustainable agriculture.
Overall, our findings provide key empirical insights into the planning and execution of current agrifood educational practices. The humanistic perspective inherent to the concept of kinship with the land is fundamental for the successful implementation of sustainable agriculture education. However, spatial accessibility must be considered when establishing a farm. Notably, students must have a robust foundation with respect to the concept of sustainability to be able to grasp higher-level sustainability concepts. In addition, sustainable literacy must be developed and enriched through ongoing sustainable education.

Keywords：kinship with the land, concept of sustainable agriculture, agrifood education, campus farming, concept mappingprogram

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