With a declining percentage of the labor force engaged in farm and ranch work, agriculture might seem less relevant as a field of study for U.S. college students in the 21st Century. In fact, food production issues rank at the top of many students’ lists of global, domestic, and personal concerns. By expanding beyond traditional courses and encouraging interdisciplinary work within the UMass system, the Stockbridge School of Agriculture is attracting new students and revitalizing its mission as a historic land-grant institution.
Andrew Hibel, HigherEdJobs: Can you tell us about your work as the director of the Stockbridge School of Agriculture? What do you find the most rewarding part of your job?
Wesley R. Autio, Ph.D., Director, Stockbridge School of Agriculture: I’m both the director and a member of the faculty. In the latter role, I teach classes, advise graduate students, and conduct research. As director, I mostly keep the ship afloat and going in the right direction. The most rewarding parts of my job as director are those which enhance the sustainability of the Stockbridge School of Agriculture: attracting more students; providing them with a quality education; bringing in new members of the faculty; and doing what’s necessary to allow them to be the best educators and the best researchers possible.
Hibel: You’re also a professor of Pomology. I imagine there are a lot of people unaware that pomology is the study of fruit and fruit growing. What got you interested in it?
Autio: Well, I’ve been interested in horticulture since I was very young. My mother is an avid gardener, but I was most influenced by my great uncle. He was an inspiring horticultural enthusiast. I found his breeding of daylilies to be fascinating.
Hibel: And how did this early interest in horticulture lead to an academic career in pomology?
Autio: I studied horticulture in college (Virginia Tech) and was attracted to the study of fruit crops by an exceptional instructor (Dr. John Barden). I pursued my graduate degrees at the University of Massachusetts in fruit crops, and during those years, I decided that I wanted a career in academia.
Hibel: A lot of people may wonder why farmers or arborists need a degree to run a farm or orchard.
Autio: Both careers can be pursued without college degrees, but both work very closely with highly- complex biological and physical systems. For orchardists, an understanding of the morphology and physiology of the tree; the ecology of the tree and its predators and competitors; and the microeconomics of fruit production and sales will make the farm more profitable.
Hibel: There’s a growing interest in the nonacademic world in urban farms and farmers. How has that affected agriculture schools and their curricula?
Autio: It’s made farming an attractive academic discipline again! More than half of our undergraduate students are in the Sustainable Food & Farming major. They are not our traditional student, interested only in the practices of growing agronomic, fruit, and vegetable crops. They want to know more about small-scale farming, mixed plant and animal operations, organic growing, and a variety of potential crops like herbs, medicinal plants, and mushrooms. They also want to understand the social aspects of agriculture. So, our curriculum has expanded greatly beyond the traditional courses to include a wide variety of specialty ones. It also encourages students to access courses in public policy, sociology, anthropology, history, geosciences, etc.
Hibel: Levi Stockbridge was the first professor of agriculture at the Massachusetts Agriculture College, which later became The University of Massachusetts. Today, the website cites the Stockbridge School as central to the mission of UMass. In what ways does the Stockbridge School work with the larger institution of the University of Massachusetts?
Autio: We work with UMass like any other department within the university system. Our majors represent academic disciplines on the same footing as physics, sociology, and art. However, as we have historically, we continue to address the central part of the land grant mission that started the university, i.e. agriculture. Our curricula integrate with the rest of the university through a variety of general education requirements and the fundamental science and math requirements of any student studying an applied biological field. The faculty is comprised of 21 tenure-system professors, three extension professors, and five full-time and numerous part-time lecturers. All members of this faculty participate within the university community, many serving on governance councils, various types of committees, and graduate-student guidance committees. Since agricultural research is varied in nature, it often engages people from many campus disciplines.
Hibel: What are some examples of projects that involve both the Stockbridge School and other university programs? Are there other academic fields that seem to naturally align well with agriculture? I imagine geology, but are there other more surprising connections?
Autio: In recent years we have had collaborative projects with members of the faculty of the departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Biology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Environmental Conservation, Food Science, Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, Microbiology, Nutrition, Veterinary and Animal Science, and I am probably missing some. One example is an “urban agriculture” effort led by Dr. Frank Mangan. This project seeks to understand the food system within cities, working closely with human nutrition.
Hibel: Can you describe your faculty? What kind of research do they conduct?
Autio: Our faculty is diverse. We have tenure-system professors, extension professors, and lecturers. Our lecturers all focus on the practical side of agriculture and are immersed in teaching. The tenure-system and extension professors conduct research, teach, advise graduate students, and some provide extension education to practitioners. Their research varies widely: from fundamental studies of the molecular biology of various plant species to the on-farm (or in-landscape) application of new practices. Some are discipline-focused, like soil chemistry, plant pathology, or molecular biology, while others are crop-focused, like agronomic crops, fruit crops, floricultural crops, and turfgrass.
Hibel: How does your work compare to that of an active arborist, particularly in terms of time spent outdoors in an orchard?
Autio: First, orcharding is not arboriculture. Most arborists focus on landscape trees and work primarily on structural and aesthetic aspects of many tree species. Orchardists, by contrast, work on very few species and focus on producing a fruit crop. My work differs considerably from that of an orchardist. I don’t live in the orchard, working seven days a week for much of the year. Mine is focused on small parts of the spectrum of responsibility of the orchardist. Most of my current research is on the adaptability of different apple and peach rootstocks to Massachusetts’ conditions.
Hibel: What advice do you have for someone interested in agricultural education at the university level?
Autio: Immerse yourself in the field. If your interest is crop-focused, experience that crop, get involved with practitioners, and get hands-on experience. Read about it. Visit other parts of the region, country, or world to see as many growing systems as possible. If your interest is more discipline-focused, the advice is similar. Study the discipline, experience it, visit laboratories, and get hands-on experience. If it is a fundamental discipline, develop an understanding of the application of that fundamental work.