In horticulture, relating course material to broader cultural and social issues is sometimes neglected. In short, students want to know how to successfully grow plants so they can get a job. Yet, according to the ideals of critical pedagogy defined by Paulo Freire, I, as a teacher am responsible for raising awareness of issues that go beyond the dimensions of my “horticulture box.”
But what does horticulture have to do with social justice?
While linking ornamental crop production to issues such as social inequality may be a stretch, relating plant production to state- or country-wide environmental issues does seem achievable. I admit, I don’t often do this when teaching horticulture courses. Nonetheless, the following would be my attempt at leading horticulture students to discover how knowledge of a large-scale environmental issue and the solution to this issue can help them circumvent future obstacles.
This is what I might say to a classroom of horticulture students studying ornamental plant production.
Environmental Issue:
“As some of you may know, most of Virginia is part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed in which agricultural runoff (namely nitrogen and phosphorus) is the leading non-point source of surface-water pollution. High levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in the Chesapeake Bay have led to wide-spread fish kills which have, in turn, negatively impacted the fishing industry. If we don’t find a solution soon, Virginia seafood prices will likely skyrocket.”
My attempt to engage horticulture students in this issue:
“How many of you plan on owning your own nursery some day? Given what we know about fertilizing ornamental plants, why may ornamental crop production be a substantial contributor to the aforementioned agricultural nutrient runoff? What potential environmental regulations might ornamental plant nursery have to deal with in the near future? For those of you who hope to own your own nursery, what could you do to avoid having to deal with these tedious regulations?”
Now, I want you to put yourself in my students’ shoes. If you were given the above information and were planning to start your own nursery in Virginia (just pretend), would you seriously consider diving deeper for a solution to this problem? Let’s say that these impending regulations would be a serious headache and will almost certainly be implemented if something isn’t done soon.
I happen to have a soft spot for design solutions. In short this is a great open-ended question and keep it on the books for the future.
So, what are these regulations? I know in some building codes there is some legislation now or soon that targets impervious cover and combined sewer overflows which pollute waterways from chemicals in general, not only fertilizers. Do you happen to know what percentage of such nutrient runoff is compared to the amount used?
Thanks for your comment, Ken. Nutrient use efficiency (percent of applied nutrients used by the plant) is less than 50% in containerized nursery-crop production. About 90% of what is not used by the plant runs off (very little remains in the container). This is the problem nurserymen are facing and the basis of my research. Your question is also the question I would hope my students would ask after given the above scenario.
Hi, There are so many issues related to horticulture that could be addressed from a social justice perspective. For example, many government entities prohibit residents from growing their own food! There are also cases where folks have allowed their yards to grow in order to create natural habitats (in one case, one area was left untended and the garden had natural pests and no longer needed pesticide), but they are fined and forced to mow them down despite the fact that it’s better for the environment. Another issue is the depletion of nutrients in some seeds, i.e. modern-day watermelon has much less of the fruit than those of the past. Additionally, if you’re raising plants or crops near other farms that use pesticides, the wind carries it to yours, too. And what about the bees dying? That’s just briefly what I’ve seen via my nature spirituality rather than a horticulture specialist. So even if I wanted to have a garden here, I need to pay attention to the regulations. If you could post a link to them, that would be great! Thanks!
This is really interesting to think about, because I am also in a boat where it is easy for me to think more about the day to day and less about the bigger social issues in the way material is presented. And I think not everything has to be about an “issue.” But I think you give a great example of taking a step back at a broader question.
In horticulture it would be cool to have a landscape design project that was optimized specifically for habitat (birds, bats, butterflies, etc.).
So whenever there is poverty in a society and removing poverty make some negative externality in the form of environmental pollution, then what should we do? should we think about environment or social justice?