Student Experience

Sustainable Development Class Visits Polyface Farms

GPPI’s Sustainable Development class recently spent the day at Polyface Farm, a “family owned, multi-generational, pasture-based, beyond organic, local-market farm and informational outreach” organization located in Virginia’s Shenandoah’s Valley.

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The group was treated to a tour with Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farm. The class, along with family and friends, learned first-hand about Polyface’s sustainable agriculture practices- a “closed loop” system by which they raises cows, pigs, and chickens using no synthetic fertilizer- just grass, sunlight, and water. These sustainable practices have restored the Polyface land to healthy grasslands from degraded fields.

Salatin, who speaks internationally on sustainable development, was featured in Michael Pollen’s book “Omnivore’s Dilemma” and the film “Food, Inc.”

“With today’s growing concerns about the environmental and health implications of industrialized farming, it is refreshing to learn first-hand about one man’s insistent quest to show us that it can be done differently,” said Gillette Hall, interim director for GPPI’s Master’s in International Development Policy program and Sustainable Development class instructor.