What We Try to Do & Why:
The
Farmscape Ecology Program is a research and
outreach branch of the Hawthorne Valley Association, its general focus
is
agriculture and land use change in Columbia County. As such, it adds
breadth to
HVA’s educational mission and is novel within the organization in its
research
focus. It is coordinated by Conrad Vispo, Claudia Knab-Vispo
& Anna Duhon with the help
of many hands.
Given
its on-farm roots, the Program aims to
encompass a spectrum of enquiry and outreach spanning close contact
with
farmers through countywide efforts to understand not just agriculture
but
farming’s wider natural and socio-economic context.
Our
broad goal is to help farmers and the general
public interact with the nature of their landscape in a more informed
way. We
are information activists rather than political advocates. As such, we
try to
stimulate and address the interests of individuals in their
surroundings. We
believe that by encouraging people to think more deeply about those
surroundings and by providing them with some of the information tools
to do so,
we can promote more considered land use decisions. Recent changes in
County
demographics, with many people arriving from the City, have both fueled
land
use changes and have created a new need to build a connection to the
land.
These
broad goals are pursued at four different
levels (see figure):
1)
On
Hawthorne Valley Farm:
We develop materials and advise farmers on issues relating to the
Farm’s
interaction with its surroundings. Specifically, we have completed an
on-farm
survey of natural habitats and provided the Farm with a map of areas of
conservation interest along with suggestions for their management. Our
agricultural research component is meant to address questions of
bio-dynamic
farming, helping the Farm practice a learning agriculture. We are about
to begin
a major collaborative effort to create an on-farm master plan for
ecologically-sensitive water use. The Farm has a strong commitment to
place-appropriate farming, and we help deepen the Farm’s expertise in
this area.
2) With
Farmers of the County:
The Program interacts with a variety of regional farmers, conventional
and
organic, through the Farmers’ Research Circle, and through numerous
individual
contacts. Within the context of encouraging sustainable, regional
farming, we
tap farmers’ research interests and, through our on-staff agricultural
researcher, try to address topical research questions and share the
results in
effective ways. We have completed on-farm natural habitat surveys of
seven
farms. Initial work for the Farmers’ Research Circle has focused on
developing
ways of measuring the sustainability of grassland (i.e., hay and
pasture) use.
Grasslands are a central component of any form of sustainable
agriculture in
our region, yet the agricultural ecology of regional fields is only
poorly
understood.
3)
With
Citizens of the County:
Our outreach with the general public has derived from our on-farm
research and
is intended to help people appreciate their landscape from both a
cultural and
ecological perspective. We believe that strengthening that connection
is
crucial for motivating informed public interest in the future of the
County,
including its agriculture. Our research about on-farm habitats and
about the
biodiversity and management of openland (i.e., farm or lawn) ponds has
been
translated into two series of articles in our regional newspaper. We
have given
numerous public walks and lectures in order to share this information.
Our summer intern program is
meant to give
young people a chance to know both the region and the ecological
aspects of its
land use in more detail.A
future focus
for the Program will be The
Know Your Place Project – an
effort to create an atlas, through the participatory assembly of
existing data
and gathering of primary information. The Atlas will help inform county
citizens
about the ecological and socio-economic change occurring in their
surroundings.
It will be accompanied by walks, lectures, class-room activities, and
mini-field guides. A key focus will be to gather and present this
information
using a ‘multiple-entry point’ approach (i.e., one consciously designed
to
reach and excite a diversity citizens).
4)
With
the Region:
We consult and collaborate with a variety of area organizations,
providing
input on issues relating to agriculture and regional land use.
Specifically, we
have received funding from and contribute information to the Hudson
River
Estuary Program, Glynwood Center, and the Columbia Land Conservancy. We
have
recently submitted collaborative proposals with the University of
Albany and
with Hudsonia. The Program coordinators are Visiting Fellows in Cornell
University’s Department of Natural Resources, a position that provides
the
Program with both academic resources and a forum for sharing some of
its
information with organizations such as Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Our
outreach program to NYC audiences concerning food miles is meant to
help forge
an upstate/downstate agricultural consciousness.
These
spheres of activity interact strongly with
each other. What we learn at Hawthorne Valley Farm, gets shared as we
interact
with a wider group of farmers. In turn, information derived from both
Hawthorne
Valley Farm and other collaborating farmers goes into informing the
Public
about the role of agriculture in their landscape, and contributes an
important
piece to our understanding of the greater landscape context. Finally,
all of
these interactions and data stimulate interest from regional
organizations and
helps us provide useful insights to these institutions. All these
interactions
are meant to be two-way, i.e., we shape our program based in part on
the
feedback we get from farmers and the general public.
In
sum, we work from the ground up: based on solid
agricultural and natural history research, we document and help inform
successful
agriculture in our landscape; we try to share the excitement and
importance of
that agriculture with the general public; and, recognizing that
agriculture
cannot be separated from its greater social and land-use context, we
try to
inform the public about the evolving natural and socioeconomic
landscape of the
County.
The
schematic below outlines how we conceive of the organization of our
work.
|
