Sustainable food systems program growing

Sol Garcia | THE RIDER

Since Fall 2019, students have been able to enroll in the sustainable agriculture and food systems degree program through ApplyTexas. 

The interdisciplinary major best suits students who are interested in helping create a more sustainable food system, said Christopher Gabler, program coordinator for the degree program. 

“You still get your traditional issues related to food production, but you get a lot more training in other disciplines, related to humanities, related to economics, related to social sciences, that help you grasp the multidisciplinary nature of having a sustainable food system,” said Gabler, who is also an assistant professor in the School of Earth, Environmental and Marine Sciences. 

The major was initially created in 2017 but was not launched until Fall 2018. Students could not select the major through the admissions website, ApplyTexas, though. So, several current students are upperclassmen who transferred. However, some freshmen have joined this year, Gabler said. 

“Most of the new students were people who came in the kind of traditional route of coming in through the regular cohort of joining as freshmen, and we’re actively recruiting,” he said. “We’re just approaching 30 students, and we’re hoping to double that for the next few years.”   

Four introductory courses were created for the degree program, including introduction to sustainable agriculture, sustainable horticulture, introduction to agricultural engineering and introduction to food science, Gabler said. 

“Those are four new introductory-level courses that we created for this program, and they complement other courses that already exist,” he said. 

Sustainable agriculture and food systems is meant to provide hands-on training and experiential learning, and some courses satisfy this by working at the university’s community gardens. To stay safe from the risk of COVID-19, students are trained in small groups while socially distancing, Gabler said. 

“Our approach has been to bring students in, so they can get that hands-on training in small groups, spreading our effort out, still giving them that essential, personal experiential learning that they’re going to need to succeed going forward,” he said. “[We’re] doing it in a way that’s safe, respecting social distancing, respecting all the rules related to safe practices, sanitation, that kind of thing.” 

The degree program also expects juniors to spend two semesters completing community engagement, whether it is through an internship or another off-campus service. In their senior year, those students then attend courses where they discuss what they learned during their community engagement and how sustainability-related issues can be resolved in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. 

“Whether they’re in the field of funding in agriculture, or they’re in social work or they’re actually on the production side of things, they all are … together,” he said. “They’re all talking to each other in ways that, in theory, everyone can understand.” 

About three students will be sustainable agriculture and food systems’ first graduates this December, Gabler said. 

“We expect to have our first graduating class later this year, and we’re excited about it,” he said. “We’re looking forward to their feedback on the process.”   

Those students and future graduates can find employment as production managers who oversee food production, U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors, policymakers regarding agricultural fields, social workers in the areas of community development and more, Gabler said. 

“Being interdisciplinary, there are a lot of options,” he said. 

Alex Racelis, an associate professor in the School of Earth, Environmental and Marine Sciences, believes students may be unaware how this degree program can create career and professional development opportunities for students. 

“There was a recent study done about opportunities and careers in the region, and they identified agriculture as one of the biggest career opportunities here in the Rio Grande Valley,” Racelis said. “What we’re trying to do with this degree is prepare our students to meet those needs in the community and workforce.” 

With sustainable agriculture and food systems, students can learn about issues that the Valley faces, he said. 

“Food and agriculture in the region is super important, not just with agricultural production, but food-related diseases, hunger, a lot of the issues that the region is dealing with and facing,” he said. “The students … learn about these issues, understand the context here, and what it means for them and the communities and their own personal lives.” 

Students who would like to learn more information about the major may contact Gabler at christopher.gabler@utrgv.edu.