The Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester

I met with 2 lecturers in Sustainable Agriculture at the Royal Ag College, Dr John Conway and Dr Richard Baines. John's expertise is in the area of soils and their management, while Richard is a specialist in food chains, supply and Quality Assurance programs. He had previously been to Perth, WA in 2000 to study Cattlecare and Flockcare systems.

These 2 fellows co-ordinate the post-graduate studies in Sustainable Agriculture which is nested within the International Rural Development course, with students of many and varied backgrounds enrolled. It is run over a year full-time (October-June) or 2 years part-time. It is delivered using something of a community of practice method where the students are encouraged to join in the process of learning, and by using case studies and examples from many countries and regions.

The sustainability of development of agricultural and tourism developments in Asian and African countries, and many other world regions, is at the core of the course. Streams of study include natural resource development, sutainable agricultural systems, organic agriculture, climate change and development and sustainable rural tourism. Students are encouraged to undertake in-depth case studies across the broad range of electives within the course thereby understanding the factors affecting other participants. Students undertake research projects as well as presentations and exams.

The course links in with visited farms by basing some study areas on the Integrated Farm Management principles of Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF). The college is itself undertaking regular environmental analysis of its procedures and activities and this process in some ways mirrors what the students study.

Environmental considerations at the college include the use of alternative energy supplies and investigations into anaerobic digestion (AD). Mention was made of an alternative method being trialled at a German institute which utilises a system related to the environment within a cow's rumen to produce energy from waste material. The lecturers were hopeful that the future could see a parallel trial using existing AD technology against this "next generation" method.