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Integrated Farm – Learning and Improving
Established in 1993, the Integrated Farm functions as a learning center for students, local farmers and other campus visitors. Its daily operations demonstrate how to minimize external farming inputs and maximize the use of byproducts from on-farm production practices.
Sustainable Agriculture
Teaching of these farming principles has led to the establishment of several systems that contribute to sustainable agriculture, such as the use of bio-digesters and the production of bokashi. Through courses such as Work Experience, Forestry and Agro-Forestry, Ecology, Tropical Animal Production, Sustainable Animal Production, Genetics, and Animal Reproduction and Lactation, students gain hands-on exposure to the farm’s many facets. EARTH also uses the Integrated Farm as a source of income for university programs through the sale of milk, pigs, male calves and organic fertilizers.
Animal Welfare Practices
EARTH strives to create the best possible environment for the animals on the farm by honoring the five principles of Animal Welfare. These are:
1. Freedom from thirst, hunger and malnutrition
2. Freedom from discomfort due to environment
3. Freedom from pain, injury and disease
4. Freedom to express normal behavior for the species
5. Freedom from fear and distress
Content Animals, Better Results
EARTH has made significant improvements to the Integrated Farm over the years. Some of these improvements include milking cows on cement which reduces lameness that can negatively affect milk production and reproductive efficiency; the use of soft music during milking; giving sows access to free range pastures; and the availability of adequate water, feed and minerals for cows and pigs. These practices have led to agricultural benefits, including increased milk production.
Biodigesters
As part of the Integrated Farm, EARTH uses a system called a biodigester, which transforms waste into energy. It converts animal waste and other refuse into methane gas, which is then used for cooking and generating electricity. EARTH has shared this technology with farmers in nearby communities. Operated using animal and human excrement, biodigesters generate many other community benefits, including: diminishing waste and contamination related illnesses, reducing the population of insects such as flies and mosquitoes, reducing or eliminating the need for farmers to buy expensive propane gas, eliminating the need to use firewood for cooking, helping sustain area forests, and decreasing the number of sicknesses found in populations traditionally relying on firewood for cooking. An added bonus is the substance remaining after the gas is extracted from the waste. This can be used as organic fertilizer, thereby reducing the application of chemical fertilizers and allowing farmers to save money and limit air pollution.
Click below to watch a short video about how EARTH uses Biodigesters
EM & Bokashi – Natural Fertilizer
What is Bokashi?
EARTH recycles organic waste from its banana farm, Integrated Farm and other University operations into Bokashi, a type of compost made from organic waste, sawdust and effective microorganisms (EM).
What are Effective Microorganisms (EM)?
EM is the product and growth resulting from the cultivation of over 80 natural microorganisms that are mutually compatible and can coexist in a liquid culture. The microorganisms used to grow EM include populations of lactic acid bacteria, yeasts, smaller numbers of photosynthetic bacteria, actinomycetes and other organisms.
How EM Works to Create Bokashi
EM can be used to turn organic and food waste into a beneficial and nutrient-rich compost that helps reestablish a balanced soil ecology, raise yields in organic agriculture and combat oxidative stress in plants and humans.
The Benefit
By treating waste with EM and creating Bokashi, EARTH produces an effective and affordable natural fertilizer. The fertilizer enriches and balances farm soil and reduces the need for conventional chemical fertilizers. The advantage to home gardeners is obvious. The techniques used to create Bokashi are simple and cost effective, and result in an odorless and efficient way to make natural fertilizer from kitchen wastes and other organic wastes over a short, one-month timeframe.
Through its Community Development Program, EARTH has trained numerous local farmers and gardeners in the use of EM to create Bokashi for use on their own farms and gardens.
The Renewable Banana – More than Nourishment
When EARTH’s founders acquired an 8,154-acre parcel of land to build the University campus, the land included an active commercial banana farm. Hoping to minimize the environmental impact of its campus and operations, EARTH hired an international advisory group to conduct an environmental assessment of the property and make recommendations.
The Banana Problem
The advisory group recommended eliminating the banana plantation because banana production traditionally required heavy use of chemicals and produced massive amounts of organic and solid waste. In addition, the banana industry was known for its harsh and dangerous working conditions.
One of the reasons EARTH chose the traditionally poor eastern lowlands of Costa Rica for its campus was to have a positive impact on social and economic conditions in the area, not to contribute to existing problems.
EARTH President José Zaglul explains why EARTH decided to keep the banana plantation active. “We listened to the arguments against continuing banana production on campus, but eventually chose to ignore the advice,” he says. “We realized we had an opportunity to be an example to our students, to prove to the world that sustainable agriculture is possible and to transform an industry known for its environmental and social abuses.”
EARTH Changes an Industry
Since those first days, EARTH’s professional farm managers, faculty, students, graduates and outside researchers have been experimenting on and innovating the banana plantation. In order to reduce harmful waste in banana production, EARTH searched for an alternative use for banana stalks and found they were suitable for making paper. EARTH also spearheaded an effort to recycle the plastic bags and cords used in banana production. The sustainable banana production methods pioneered at EARTH, including the reduction of pesticides and other harmful chemicals, have been incorporated by producers worldwide.
EARTH continues to innovate by applying organic techniques to reduce harmful effects of conventional banana production. The result is a commercial banana operation that has significantly reduced its impact on the environment and strives to have a positive impact on the lives of its employees and their communities. In recognition of these efforts, Whole Foods Market sells EARTH bananas, pineapples and mangos through its Whole Trade Guarantee program.
Click below to learn more about how EARTH’s innovations in the Banana Industry.Banana.MOV (6MB)
Biological Reserve
EARTH has a 2,471-acre forest reserve that is home to a great diversity of flora and fauna native to the region. The reserve offers a living laboratory in which students, professors and visitors can study and enjoy the species of the humid tropics.
A variety of fruits are collected in the forest reserve in order to obtain the seeds needed to grow trees at the University's nursery. These trees are then used in institutional and communiity reforestation projects.
Ethnobotanical Garden – Student Innovation
EARTH created the Ethnobotanical Garden based on a recommendation by its inaugural class. These students identified the need for a place on campus to learn about the properties, cultivation and propagation of medicinal plants. The faculty welcomed the idea and a piece of uncultivated land within the academic farm was set aside for this purpose. Under the supervision of Professor Jorge Arce, the students collected medicinal plants from the Caribbean region (both native and non-native plants), including species brought to the region by Afro-Caribbean immigrants, to ensure accurate and comprehensive representation of the region’s traditional pharmacopoeia.
The initial purpose of this garden was to:
- Serve as a learning and training center for students and interested people;
- Conserve germoplasm;
- Research and gather information from the Atlantic region about about the uses of these plants; and
- Disperse seeds to later distribute to the community.
At the time of its implementation, EARTH’s Ethnobotanical Garden was the only garden in the local area where community members could visit and collect the byproducts of these plants in small quantities, without any cost, in order to develop “health gardens” on their own farms.
University of Georgia’s Latin American Sister Gardens Network.
The Latin American Sister Gardens Network
In 1998, EARTH began establishing a relationship with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) at the University of Georgia. By the end of 1999, the partnership was fully consolidated through generous financial support from the Exposition Foundation. Under the supervision of CLACS collaborators, architect Cheryl Mihalko and James Affolter, Ph.D., landscaping for the Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Garden began. Thanks to this relationship with the University of Georgia, students from both institutions have been able to participate in internships. The project is also part of the University of Georgia’s Latin American Sister Gardens Network.
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