What is Sustainable and Entrepreneurial Agriculture

Successful sustainable agriculture is economically profitable, ecologically sound, and community-based.  It employs practices that reflect an attitude of respect for the land, humane treatment of livestock and a healthy environment for the human communities in which they exist. 

Farming in Iowa is more than corn and soybeans.  Seventy-five years ago Iowa’s farms sold a large number of different products including peaches, cherries, apples, barley, raspberries, turkeys, sorghum, geese, and watermelon.  Today we import the vast majority of these foods.  In fact, according to the “Food, Fuel, and Freeways” report issued by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture in 2001, our food travels an average of 1,500 miles before it reaches our plate.  The current system of food distribution requires an environmentally costly investment in petroleum and reduces the quality and nutrition of our food.  In addition, this distribution system means that dollars are being lost from our communities.

Marshalltown Community College is offering the program in Sustainable and Entrepreneurial agriculture to provide farmers with the skills needed to raise alternative products and the entrepreneurial know-how to successfully market those products.  Equipped with the knowledge and skills to develop profitable and sustainable agricultural enterprises, farmers and entrepreneurs will improve the health of their customers, enliven communities - culturally, economically, and environmentally – through stewardship, innovation, and collaboration. 

“A sustainable agriculture does not deplete soils or people."

-Wendell Berry