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Conference Notes: <br /> Growth from the Ground Up: <br /> Community Colleges and Sustainable <br /> Food Systems "I is r c e for <br /> September 29, 2011 `' ` <br /> As community colleges ponder future workforce development opportunities, they would <br /> do well to consider the old as well as the new. One part of the `old" economy that is <br /> beginning to be viewed in a new light is agriculture—but in its new form, which is <br /> diversified and sustainable food systems. Previously, agriculture largely has been <br /> viewed through the lens of large-scale commodity farming, harking back to former <br /> Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz's admonition to farmers to "get big or get out." <br /> Agricultural education in public schools tended to remain in the comprehensive high <br /> school' even as other programs moved out into specialized regional vocational and later <br /> career centers. Students that wanted further education in agriculture aspired to attend <br /> land grant universities, not community colleges where programs were very scarce. <br /> Today agriculture is reframing itself within the larger economic context or cluster called <br /> "food systems." Changes in consumer demand for foods, food experiences, food <br /> security, healthier eating habits and lifestyles plus interests in new sources of energy <br /> are generating a new set of economic and career opportunities that require a different <br /> set of skills than those needed for producing conventional crops and animals for <br /> commodity markets. <br /> � a <br /> e i <br /> A a <br /> Stuart Rosenfeld, "Vocational Agriculture:A Model for Educational Reforms," Commentary, Education <br /> Week, September 26, 1984. <br /> 1 <br />