Sustainable agriculture lab: UH Hilo students work the soil, grow food, learn to care for the land
Each student works on their own individual plot in an open area located behind the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resource Management.
Story and photos by Zackary Walters/UH Hilo Stories.
Each Friday afternoon this semester, students in a sustainable agriculture class at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo have an hour’s lecture followed by a two-hour outdoor lab where they learn first hand about seeding, planting, and growing. At the lab, each student works on their own individual plot in an area located behind the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resource Management.
The students are learning with their own hands what it’s like to grow food, flowers, and herbs in Hawaiʻi through sustainable methods.
The course is taught by Norman Arancon, professor of horticulture who also serves as director of the college. Arancon is internationally recognized for his pioneering research on earthworm-worked soil amendments, or vermicomposts. (Learn more about Professor Arancon’s reasearch.)
“I see this lab as more than an academic exercise,” says Prof. Arancon. “It is where the next generation learns the meaning of caring for the land, understanding that true sustainability grows from respect for tradition and place. As I often say, ‘Real agriculture isn’t just what we grow; it’s how we grow it. Our future depends on mastering the fundamentals that generations before us lived by.’ This class underscores that message, combining time-honored practices with thoughtful innovation so students leave not only skilled, but grounded in the values that have guided successful farming communities for centuries.”
The course focuses on the evaluation of conventional and alternative farming methods in the United States, Polynesia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America from a long-term perspective. Students learn that worldwide conventional monocropping agriculture needs to transform into regenerative farming, agroforestry, and multi-crop planting that create more diversity within ecosystems.
“We depend too much on imported fertilizers and pesticides,” says Arancon. “Start with organic practices. Work with the soil and biology first before turning to synthetic inputs.”
Prof. Arancon’s teaching methods are interactive, engaging, effective, and highly valued by all students who take his classes and labs, even those not majoring in agriculture. In the lab, the students assemble raised beds and fill with nutrient rich soils. Throughout the gardens there are many different plot designs.
The practices of Arancon’s class strongly promote improving the environment. Students analyze the effects of agricultural practices on environmental quality, agrosystems (meaning ecosystems supporting food production in farms and gardens), and food security. Agrosystems are enriched by earthworms creating nitrogen rich amendments for the plants to thrive. Organically grown food is the focus to protect humans and the soil.
Arancon says organic farming doesn’t always work. Therefore, a cultural hybridization of organic and chemical is evolving the success of maintaining growth that protects humans and the soil. Problems arise when failed practices result in the introduction of new species of plants, insects, and animals that cannot coexist with the native species of Hawaiʻi.
Students are encouraged to connect deeply with the land.
Biology student Enoche Petersen enjoys the class, working with the soil and getting his hands dirty. Pulling weeds and running his hands through a rich loom promotes a fluffy medium for his new sprouts to descend roots down creating a solid foundation to ascend toward the sky.
Flowers are planted to attract pollinators and deter pests.
A lot of the students say taking this class is a way to connect with the ʻāina (land). Students from every major can benefit from taking the class. Students benefit from year round climate stability to grow nutritious organic food.
Students also reflect on the psychological well-being that is supported by the practices with intention to connect with the land. They take the class as a way to balance out and find ease within the demands of student life. “We feel better after this class,” one student says. Many students agree that Professor Arancon’s class is a happy place.
Story and photos by Zackary Walters, a philosophy major at UH Hilo.
