IAA Instructor Ellen Polishuk teaches a course on sustainable agriculture
Image Credit: Edwin Remsberg
The latest issue of MomentUM Magazine presented by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR) is hot off the presses! Below is a taste of one of many stories featured in the publication which focuses on the Institute for Applied Agriculture, a unique and innovative two-year program offered through the College of AGNR:
Introducing Sustainability
Ellen Polishuk likes to point out the lack of letters after her last name – the absence of a P, h or D tacked onto the end.
“It’s nice to be appreciated for having experience as opposed to having gone through X-amount of years of school,” said Polishuk, who teaches a new course called Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture offered through the Institute of Applied Agriculture (IAA) at the University of Maryland.
Despite her missing suffix, Polishuk certainly has plenty of knowledge to share with students on the increasingly popular subject of sustainability. Before coming to teach for IAA, Polishuk owned and operated Potomac Vegetable Farms in Loudon County, Va. where she grew and sold vegetables, herbs and cut flowers using what she calls “ecoganic” practices. “Ecoganic” is a term Polishuk started using a few years ago after deciding not to go through the new and complicated federal certification program that qualifies farms and products as organic. Although Polishuk’s farm operates using environmentally-friendly practices, her products cannot be marketed as “organic” by law.
Teaching at a university isn’t something the environmentally conscious vegetable farmer ever thought would be in the cards but a few years ago she decided it was time to hire someone to take over the day-to-day details of her farm. “I’m just worn out physically,” she explained.
When the IAA approached her about using her farming knowledge to teach a new course on sustainable agriculture, Polishuk welcomed the unexpected opportunity.
Click here to read the rest of this story and others in the BRAND NEW MomentUM…
If you would like to receive a print copy of MomentUM by mail, please contact Gail Yeiser at gyeiser@umd.edu or 301-405-2434.
