International Voluntary Service
Volunteering for Peace and Social Justice

USA: Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, Minnesota

SCI USA

Michael Fields Agricultural Institute

Theme of the project: Environment

Location: MINNESOTA

Work starts: on-going

Work ends: on-going

Application deadline: on-going

Decision date: on-going

Total number of volunteers: 1

Project language: English

Local language: English

Short description: An unusual opportunity to get a first hand experience of cutting edge alternative agricultural practices. Michael Fields Agricultural Institute is devoted to developing and teaching an agricultural practice that can sustain the land and its resources. As a public, non-profit learning centre, we seek to revitalize farming with research, education, technical assistance and public policy.

Long description: Few of us ever pause to consider either the present - or the future - of agriculture in America. Yet much of what we hold as vital and hope to keep for generations is deeply rooted in farming. A democracy sprang up and thrived on this ground by strength of individual land ownership and the industry that comes with toil from the earth. How long will we have our values, our freedoms without the land? In the life of this nation, over a few hundred years, the number of people who own or work our farmland has steadily fallen. On this one occupation, all livelihoods, all sustenance, our very existence depends. Yet farming’s essentials — its biology, cultivation, husbandry, conservation - are being lost to generations. And with this shift has come the loss of a rich culture; a sense of community; and human ties to soil, plant and animal life. Michael Fields Agricultural Institute is a response to the challenges we face in these profound changes. It is a response to the needs of the human race from the agricultural resources that sustain life on this planet. Through education and research, Michael Fields seeks to help both urban and rural populations meet common problems. We seek to address problems we face as a people who vitally need a sustainable agriculture:

• How our food is grown.
• Who grows our food.
• Whether growing food is a profitable enterprise.
• Fertility of the soil.
• Purity of water.
• Conservation of the Earth’s resources.
• Sustainability of farming practices, food production and food distribution.