proposal draft
Multifunctional Agriculture on DU’s Campus Prepared for: University of Denver Proposal Review Committee
Prepared by: Maya X, Undergraduate Student
April 13, 2017
Introduction:
I have worked on at Mountain Flower Goat Dairy an urban goat farm in Boulder, Colorado for the past four
years of my life. The farm focuses on sustainability and animal husbandry, but that is no easy task in a society
that doesn’t encourage sustainable agricultural practices. Rotational grazing of crops and animals a process that
can eliminate soil depletion and lower or abolish greenhouse gases emitted from animals. When animals are
grazed on pastures, their feces become nutrients for the ground, which are no longer released as gases into the
atmosphere. Therefore, plants and crops will grow more productively on the same chunk of land if they are
rotationally grazed, as in the animals pasture is moved throughout the year to different sections. This eliminates
the problem of over-grazing, while also fertilizing the land equally. The ecology of agriculture requires
rotation, for both the animals and plants to survive sustainably. Mountain Flower Goat Dairy leases land from a
century old iris garden farm. Our goats are rotationally grazed to re-enrich the soil, so that the iris plants can
thrive in better quality soil. This is a practice that benefits the land, the goat farm, and the iris farm. The farm
has taught me a lot about rotational grazing and the importance of that practice for the most efficient land use.
We strive to teach the public and surrounding community about the importance of sustainable agriculture
through our farm, and rotational grazing is a main focus.
Topic Proposal:
The topic I will be discussing for my research project will be multifunctional agriculture and the benefits of
rotational farming practices for sustainability. Multifunctional agriculture is agriculture that produces various
non commodity outputs alongside food or commodity outputs. It also recognizes that agriculture can have
other functions than just to provide food. It should function to protect environment, landscape, and rural
employment. The word multifunctional agriculture can also be referred to as “rotational agriculture,”
“rotational grazing,” or “integrated crop and livestock use.” Specialized farming has dominated the agriculture
and food industry causing a loss in biodiversity, depleting the land of vital nutrients, environmental affects, and
concerns for animal welfare. According to the Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, “integrated crop/livestock
agriculture could improve soil quality, increase yield, produce a diversity of foods, augment pollinator
populations, aid pest management, and improve land use efficiency” (Mason 365). Integrated crop/livestock
agriculture or multifunctional agriculture practices would fix many of the issues that are created by specialized
agriculture.
Focus:
The question that this project will focus on is how policy change nationally and locally can promote sustainable
multifunction agriculture practices. This information will come from looking into the policy changes that other
countries have made towards this practice already, and how to model their progress in US.
Why this is important:
Agriculture contributes to 6 to 7% of the total U.S. greenhouse gases, and manure management contributes to
7% of the methane emitted into the atmosphere. Changing the feeding of animals from corn to grass can lower
the methane released from manure that is a large contribution to climate change. Agriculture is a major
compounding factor in the climate change crisis that needs to be addressed. Mass-producing specialized
agriculture practices are not only bad for climate change, but climate change is also very bad for agriculture.
Some of these effects of climate change on agriculture are increased stress to crops and livestock due to weeds,
diseases, and pests, extreme precipitation and soil erosion, heat and drought damage, rate of adaption, and food
security (US Global Change Research Program). Agriculture policy in the US focuses largely on subsidies for
common crops that encourages specialized agriculture, but policy needs to be changed to encourage diverse
crop practices, restoration and protection of the land instead. This subject is vital to creating positive social,
economic, and environmental change. Food production affects the whole population. It is important that the US
continue to be progressive and keep up with other countries that seem to be much farther ahead in sustainable
agriculture practices in attendance to climate change as well as other food production issues. Many European
countries have already made model policies for multifunctional agriculture and are seeing the effects of that
change.
As part of the DU student body, many students are passionate about stopping climate change. I believe this is
not only a very important topic for the US to consider, but it is also crucial for DU. As an institution that has a
constant need for food productions through the dining halls, DU has a lot of power to make local change by
who they get their food supplied by. There are farms that are trying to use these practices now but who are not
able to economically sustain themselves. This research will hopefully lead to a way to change policy that
promotes multifunctional agriculture while still economically benefitting DU. Sustainability is not only about
environmental factors, but also economic sustainability for farmers, food products, and in this case the
University of Denver.
Sources:
For this research project, I will interview the founders and employees at Mountain Flower Goat Dairy, Taber
Ward, Michael Montgomery, and Madelynn Evensen. In a survey, I would like to demonstrate how many
students at DU want policy change to help lower emissions of greenhouse gases and promote climate change
action. This will demonstrate the wishes of the student body that live and learn on this campus and why it
should be important for DU to consider. I will use peer-reviewed journals like the American Institute of
Biological Science and the Journal of Sustainable Agriculture to provide evidence for my claims. I would like
to utilize sources from economic, social, and scientific perspectives, as well as those of real life farmers in
order to incorporate the policy change that will most cooperatively function for all of those affected.
Sustainable agriculture also needs sustainable policy.