Today’s log lunch featured Williams College’s Rosenburg Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology Hank Art speaking about his travel winter study course to California. Students in the course experienced a broad range of agricultural practices from the vineyards of San Luis Obispo County to winter vegetable and livestock operations in the Salinas Valley. At the beginning of the course, students got a chance to get some dirt under their fingernails experiencing a day in the life of an agricultural laborer. At Log Lunch, students recounted their experiences tending strawberry fields and herding goats. The class spent most of their time on organic and nonconventional farms, which only account for 5 percent of California agriculture. However, David Nolan ’13 reminded the audience, “Organic does not always mean small.”
Professor Hank Art (far left), Amelia Simmons ’13, Allison Graebner ’14, Emily Ury ’13, and David Nolan ’13