WSU will offer the nation’s first organic farming degree program

PULLMAN – Even as enrollment in traditional agriculture degree programs waned, John Reganold kept getting questions about organic farming.

So the Washington State University soils professor put together a proposal to create the nation’s first organic farming degree, and the state approved the program last month.

“We have as much experience as any university in the country in organic agriculture,” said Reganold, himself a major figure in the rise of organic farming.

Once considered a niche market with questionable economics, organic farming is the fastest-growing and most profitable field in agriculture, and demand for food produced without hormones, pesticides or other chemicals is exploding.

According to the Organic Trade Association, sales of organic food and beverages rose from less than $4 billion a year in 1997 to $13.8 billion in 2005. Organics were 2.5 percent of all food and drink sales nationwide, but have been growing 20 percent per year since 1990, the association said.

As a result, retailers are expanding their organic food sections, driving up demand for people to work in the field. Wal-Mart, the largest buyer of organic foods, is also developing additional organic products.

But where to find the workers to grow, process, market and certify organic foods? That’s where the new program comes in.

A university in Canada and one in Wales are the only ones in the world with organic degrees. Michigan State University and Colorado State University are on the verge of offering organic degrees also.

But WSU had a headstart on all of them. The university has three decades of pioneering research on organic farming and owns its own organic research farm.

In addition, Washington apple growers have been leaders in converting to organic farming, largely to cut down on pesticide use, which is expensive and hazardous to apply for a labor-intensive crop, Reganold said.

Surprisingly, there was no opposition from big agriculture groups that have long depended on a variety of chemicals to protect vast quantities of uniform food.

“There was no resistance to it,” said Ray Folwell, associate dean at the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resources. “It’s a hot topic.”

The organic farming industry, which has suffered from a lack of trained workers, is cheering the move.

“As an organization that hires people with organic agriculture experience, I see it certainly as significant,” said Jake Lewin of California Certified Organic Farmers.

Made up of 1,300 different businesses, CCOF also sees the degree program as helping to legitimize organic farming, Lewin said. Until now, organic farming courses were piecemeal, he said.

“This really is raising the bar for degree programs,” he said.

An organic farming degree is also a natural for Washington, a Democrat-leaning state where many citizens are environmentally aware. There are 597 organic farms in Washington, and lots of farmers markets and organic food stores.

Stephen Jones, a Washington State University wheat breeder, just received a $680,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop wheat varieties suited for organic agriculture systems.

“There’s a tremendous demand for organic wheat,” Jones said.

Enrollment in traditional agriculture programs has been declining at WSU in the past decade, because of a declining number of family farms and because many farm kids were seeking better-paying careers. Reganold said interest in organic farming has been rising, even among students who were not raised on farms.

But it is unclear how large the organic farming program will become, in part because the chemistry and other science classes required may be too daunting for some students, he said.

The new Organic Agriculture Systems major is expected to appeal not only to aspiring farmers but also to people interested in related industries, such as global marketing, direct marketing or organic food, said Cathy Perillo, coordinator of the new degree program. Graduates in organic farming can also expect to be hired by grocery and restaurant chains.

“There’s quite a bit of industry interest in the new degree, too,” Perillo said. “Large corporations increasingly interested in meeting the nation’s growing appetite for organic foods are seeking employees who understand organic agriculture systems, which are significantly different than conventional agriculture.”

Organic agriculture is attractive for several reasons. It does not use expensive fertilizers and other chemicals, it is perceived as healthier to eat, and it produces less stress on farmland, Reganold said.

Reganold believes organic farming will always be in the minority, but believes it can grow to 20 percent of the food grown. But it can be more complicated to grow a viable crop, requiring more education for the farmer and often higher labor costs.

“You can’t just spray. You’ve got to plan ahead,” Reganold said. “A lot of people don’t know how to do it.”