Craig Watson

The fall issue of Monmouth College Magazine devoted its cover and an eight-page inside spread to the school’s connections – past, present and future – with Midwestern agriculture. Chief among the themes explored was how the college could use its planned merging of the science and business departments under one roof to tackle global food and fuel concerns.

English professor Craig Watson has a ready answer to that question. He has proposed that Monmouth College acquire and develop an educational mini-farm. The endeavor would not be designed to feed the world; rather, it would serve as a classroom where improved methods of agriculture could be developed and studied.

“A re-evolution in agriculture could hardly find a better seat of theory and practice than Monmouth College,” said Watson, who developed the mini-farm proposal during his sabbatical last semester. “In responding to the familiar homily ‘think globally, act locally,’ Monmouth is ideally positioned in a region of intensive industrial agriculture on the cusp of dynamic movements for change.”

Like a seed planted in a field, Watson knows that his proposal will take time and nurturing to develop into a final product. He hopes that the college will consider acting on the idea within the next two or three years. Part of the decision process, he said, might come down to an environmental studies initiative that is also in the planning stage at the college.

How did a professor who primarily focuses on composition and literature become involved with an academic pursuit so far removed from his everyday teaching?

“In graduate school, my wife and I lived on a farm, and I worked in exchange for discounted rent,” said Watson, who was studying at the University of Michigan at the time. “Before that, I took care of horses in Barrington Hills (Ill.), and I worked on a ranch in Montana. I’ve had lots of incidental exposures to agriculture along the way.”

Today, the Watsons are avid gardeners, and the professor said the proposed farm could have benefits in addition to its role as a model of bio-intensive methods and sustainable agriculture. Among others, it could serve as a source of organic food for college and community and as a youth education outreach. Watson believes the college’s location is perfect for a farm for a variety of reasons.

“Around the college lies some the flattest and richest farm land in the world,” he said. “The country’s largest commercial seed companies maintain cutting edge research and development sites locally. Monsanto has an important experimental station for testing genetically modified plants just a mile south of Monmouth.”

Paradoxically, Watson noted that critics point to perceived downfalls of industrial agriculture, including its inherent unsustainability, its reliance on diminishing supplies of fossil fuels and its contributions to global warming.

“In sum,” he said, “they argue that short-term gains in productivity have been achieved by unsustainable means at the unacceptable cost of harm to people and planet. The ‘agricultural revolution’ in the offing will necessarily require us to rethink basic assumptions about our place in the world and come to new understandings of what it means to be local, national and global citizens.”

Citizenship, which can take many forms, is one of the major components of a Monmouth education. Another is the senior capstone course, which challenges students to move past study and contemplation to conscientious action.

“Located and dedicated as it is, Monmouth College could make an educational and experimental mini-farm the centerpiece for study and programming that is meaningfully responsive to a major 21st-century global challenge,” said Watson. “A plethora of exciting collaborative research and public scholarship projects deriving from activities of the educational farm could well define one important area of disciplinary integration. All of these elements of curricular design taken together suggest that Monmouth College may be especially well situated to assume a significant role in addressing the complex issues attendant upon the global challenge of renewing agriculture.”

Watson’s research-related travels, which included visits to a dozen nearby sustainable farms, four colleges and a field day hosted by agriculture lecturer and author Joel Salatin, suggest that Monmouth would be one among a few, highly selective liberal arts colleges to use a farm as a focus for interdisciplinary education. While Monmouth would be following in the footsteps of some other colleges, Watson thinks it could also emerge as a leader, bringing other institutions into important conversations about sustainable agriculture. He even envisions regional and national conferences being hosted by the college.

Although the “to-do” list for the project is still lengthy, the first step would seem to be “just add land.” Watson said that a remnant farmstead – not needing to consist of “top-dollar, table-top prime tillage” – of between seven and 10 acres would be sufficient for the college’s use. Close proximity to the college is a must, according to his research.

“A point emphasized by several college farm directors and interns is that close proximity translates into greater visibility for the farm, and a greater degree of student mindfulness and identification with the place and its projects,” Watson said.

Within its first six years, Watson believes the farm could undergo three phases. The first would be a three-year development phase featuring site improvements, the construction of basic structures, the acquisition of machinery and the introduction of vegetable gardens. During the fourth year, more growing could be planned, and the last two years of development could possibly focus on adding livestock.

“By the end of the fourth year, the farm’s vegetable production could pay for a variety of further capital improvements,” said Watson. “A farm director’s half-time salary, summer interns’ stipends and most costs of the final phase of development could also be covered. For the potential benefits it promises, the educational mini-farm costs very little.”

Watson’s proposal estimates the seed money needed for the project at more than $150,000. That cost could be altered by gifts of land or resources from the community or alumni, as well as grants written by faculty for ongoing projects. By its fourth year of operation, Watson said the farm should be self-sustaining.

“This project represents an inexpensive way to create enthusiasm for innovative and integrated academic programming and to promote interdisciplinary study and disciplinary research,” said Watson, who noted one example might be a campus food bar featuring the farm’s produce, which would aid a proposed course in nutrition. “It also would establish a green campus identity grounded in academic study, develop a strategic niche for Monmouth College among highly regarded national liberal arts colleges and generate enthusiasm and good will among our various constituencies.”

As the college seeks to enhance its already strong academic reputation, a mini-farm would be another way for Monmouth to be outstanding in its field.