Urban commercial agriculture is a burgeoning field, with many opportunities for entrepreneurs interested in developing high yield/low risk commercial crops for sale to urban farmers markets and high end restaurants.
Lectures and hands-on training are used to prepare students to start and manage urban farms.
You can earn a mini continuing education certificate in this very hands-on course. You will be taught sustainable strategies for planning and designing an intensive food production system, based on your needs, goals, and resources, and suited to your own individual urban space. Starting with the basic principles of sustainable farming, the course will touch on soil fertility, nutrient and water management, crop plant families and crop rotation, and maximizing the use of urban resources and infrastructure. The course will also explore community composting, including a walk-through of the composting process. We will explore "recipes" for effective composting and compare different approaches to composting, particularly bins versus windrows. The course will cover incorporating worms into your compost system for a value-added product (worm castings). In this course, you will also learn what you need to know to select and harvest your produce