PULLMAN, Wash. – Registration opens April 13 for the next series of courses in Washington State University’s online certificate in organic agriculture, refreshed this year with new courses and new leadership.
Admission to WSU is required to enroll in courses and to earn the certificate, and participants may apply as non-degree seeking students. More information is available at WSU’s Center for Distance and Professional Education Web site at www.online.wsu.edu or by calling 1-800-222-4978.
WSU was the first institution in the country to offer an academic major and an online certificate in organic agriculture. Students currently in the certificate program hale from throughout the United States, including Texas, New Mexico, Iowa and Washington, D.C.
WSU Regents Professor John Reganold, an international leader in organic agriculture, developed the first core course, Soils 101, for the certificate program, and now is leading its overall development. Professor Joan Davenport, a soil scientist at WSU’s Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center at Prosser, has developed a new course for the certificate program — Soils 20 1 — which will be offered for the first time this fall.
Other courses in the program focus on topics ranging from economics and resolving environmental conflicts to ecological soil management and crop growth and development. The program also includes an “on the ground” practicum or professional internship in organic agriculture.
Students at WSU campuses also can pursue the online certificate. “We anticipate that many students in a variety of disciplines will find value in adding this certificate to their course of study,” said Janet Kendall, director of WSU’s Center for Distance and Professional Education.
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