Guest Blogger: Jennifer Reeve

USU Extension Sustainability is all about helping everyday people live more healthy, happy and sustainable lives. This is the thirteenth of a series of posts that will feature real people who are making real changes in their lives to be more sustainable.

This month we are featuring Jennifer Reeve, read on to learn about her work with the student organic farm, extension and more!

1. Please tell us a little about your position(s) with USU, what do your duties include? 
My position is 70% research, 25% teaching and 5% service. Research duties include writing proposals, coordinating and conducting research projects in the field, greenhouse and lab, mentoring graduate students and writing papers and reports. I currently teach an undergraduate and graduate level class in organic agriculture as well as the student farm practicum. I am also the faculty mentor for the student organic farm. Service work includes reviewing papers for publication and assisting on university and department committees and at the American Society of Agronomy and Soils Science Society of America.

2. How did you first get involved with organic and sustainable agriculture? What first peaked your interest? 
I grew up on a small organic farm and even though I was not particularly interested in the time I am sure that experience contributed to my later interests. My undergraduate degree is in Ecology and while I was initially interested in going into conservation, finding regular paid work in that field proved a challenge. I was offered a position in a small company in Virginia that made compost starter and field sprays for organic and biodynamic farms. After working there for two years I decided to go to graduate school to find out if any of the stuff we were making/selling actually worked like they claimed.

3. What research projects are you currently working on? 
I am currently working on a number of research projects including understory management and soil health in organic and sustainable orchards, developing organic crop management systems for quinoa production in the Intermountain West, improving soil health and fertility in organic dryland wheat, the drivers of onion thrips populations in onion, and looking at the effects of birds foot trefoil on nutrient cycling and soil carbon storage. As a soil scientist I work with large interdisciplinary groups of scientists and growers trying to solve problems in a number of different crops. This diversity of research projects makes for really interesting work.

4. How were you involved with the USU Student Organic Farm? What prompted the creation of the farm? 
I have been the USU Student Organic Farm faculty mentor together since it was founded it in the spring of 2008. Dr. Dan Drost and a number of students were really interested in the possibility of a student farm at USU. An growing number of student farms were starting on university and college campuses around the country at that time. Dr. Drost found the site and laid the initial groundwork and then passed the project on to me when I first started at USU. It seemed like a really exciting and rewording project to be involved in.

5. How can everyday people get involved with supporting sustainable agriculture in their communities? 
I think that the best way for people to get involved is to support their local farmers by going to farmers markets and or getting involved in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. While many large farms are also sustainable, small farms really rely on a committed local customer base in order to survive. Many small vegetable farms are very labor intensive so are often very grateful for volunteer help. Many farms will provide produce in exchange for help on the farm or provide reductions in the price of a produce share in return for a certain amount of work. This can be a great way to make new friends, learn and feel connected to the local sustainable food movement. Many farms as well as universities and extension services also put on workshops and events related to sustainable agriculture. These are all excellent ways to get involved.

6. Do you have any tips for local gardeners wanting to go the organic route? 
There are a large number of books on organic gardening available as well as resources on the internet. University based extension services are providing an increasing amount of tested information on organic farming and gardening. E-organic and ATTRA are excellent places to start. Ultimately the only way to learn is to try to grow something and learn from experience. Community gardens can be a great place to meet people with similar interests and learn some tips or you can volunteer or do an internship on a working farm. Also the Master Gardener and extension programs regularly offer workshops and advice for people interested in starting a garden. Unless you are interested in selling your produce to grocery stores you probably don't need to be certified organic. Although you do need to be certified in order to market your produce as organic for trademark reasons. My personal tip is that all too often people rely too heavily on compost and manure when starting to garden. There are even resources out there that advise creating improved soil out of pretty much 100% compost. While this can work, it is unnecessary and you run the risk of creating nutrient imbalances and nutrient loss to the environment unless care is taken. A better approach is to use compost sparingly and include cover crops in your rotation. Growing your own nutrients takes space though. The bottom line is that different approaches will work best in different environments/situations and we are still figuring a lot of this out.

7. What is the most rewarding thing about your line of work? 
I think the most rewarding aspect of my work is the diversity of projects I get to be involved in. This means that I meet and work with a lot of different people from scientific different backgrounds as well as growers, students and members of the public. Working in teams to identify and solve problems in agriculture is very rewarding.

8. Why is living sustainably important to you personally? 
I believe that learning to live within the resource base of our planet is essential for our health and happiness if not ultimate survival. This is a difficult challenge as it is not always easy to know what truly sustainable living really looks like. I think it is important though to do whatever we can do as individuals, communities and nations to move in the direction of living sustainably in every way we can. Even as we continue to learn more and develop new tools to help us refine what living sustainably means in different contexts. Ultimately I believe that sustainability is a journey not a destination.