Objectives

The Organic Program seeks:

1. To stimulate broad understanding of the term organic, both as envisioned by the founders in the 1920s and as defined in organic standards today

2. To teach the principles of organic practice in food production systems, including soil, air, and water management, field and hort crop production, backyard as well as urban market gardening, and livestock management

3. To emphasize the integration of crop and livestock enterprises to capture ecological and economic synergies supporting the whole farm while safeguarding the natural environment

4. To offer a vision of organic agriculture not simply as a business, but also as a tool for community development, for building social capital, and for enhancing public health and welfare.

5. To enable students and the broader community to learn year-around urban market gardening skills, within the context of resource conservation and biodiversity enhancement, through experiential opportunities at the Guelph Centre for Urban Organic Farming (GCUOF)

6. To enrich the practical experience of organic food, nutrition, and stewardship in children, both the preschoolers of the campus Child Care and Learning Centre (CCLC) and in the primary and secondary school systems.

7. To train commercial urban market gardeners in the full gamut of requisite skills, from market development and accounting to soil and greenhouse management, production, seedsaving, and recycling