According to the University of Idaho, “The University of Idaho College of Agricultural & Life Sciences addresses the world’s most critical challenges in order to create and sustain an abundant food and energy supply, a healthy environment and successful families and communities. The college leads research and Extension efforts related to various issues and our faculty and students are finding solutions to the world’s most critical challenges in order to create and sustain an abundant food and energy supply, a healthy environment and successful families and communities.”
The College of Agriculture & Life Sciences (CALS) has many undergraduate programs to choose from such as food science, crop science, agriculture systems management, family and consumer sciences and many graduate programs.
With CALS, there are several clubs and organizations for students to get involved in and make a difference. Conley Martin is a freshman here at UI, and agriculture has been a huge part of his life. He has grown up farming and ranching with his family for his whole life. Conley is majoring in animal vet science production, and classes such as feedlot management have given him the scientific side of everything that he has been doing back home.
“I think that the University of Idaho’s CALS program as a whole provides a great opportunity for young agriculturists, and allows everyone wanting to be involved in agriculture to do something positive in the future, whether that’s for the environment or for their own systems or producing food,” Martin said.
Conley explains how great UI’s CALS is with the amazing professors and programs with many outgoing people. “If you want to be involved, you can be involved in almost anything you want,” Martin said.
“If you want to be involved you can be involved in almost anything you want.”
There are many facilities here on campus that give students hands-on learning experience. One of these is Vandal Brand Meats, a USDA-inspected facility. They harvest beef, lamb and pork, and make sausage, hams and bacon. The profits from Vandal Brand Meats goes towards supplies to offset costs of business and to pay student employees. They also make all of the “Vandal Dogs” for sporting events in the Kibbie Dome as well as the ICCU Arena.
Some of the other CALS facilities on campus include a dairy farm with around 200 cows, a sheep center with 300-800 sheep and a small feed yard with the proceeds going towards scholarships.
There are specialized on-campus living communities for those in CALS. This year, the 3rd and 4th floors of the Ballard wing within the Wallace Residence Center are designated for first-year CALS students.
UI is a land grant institution, signed into law by President Lincoln for the federal government to establish this college system. This was done during the midst of the Civil War in order to help the country prepare for feeding itself. It was crucial to build an agriculture system to maintain the ability to feed the nation under the Morel Act. So the idea was to teach agriculture and mechanics at an affordable cost, it wasn’t just for the privileged anymore. The Hatch Act of 1887 incorporated research and allowed students to learn from a scientific standpoint. Now, we have research stations throughout Idaho, including potato research in Parma, dairy and economic research in Twin Falls and fish research in Hagerman, to name a few.
Dr. Phil Bass is an assistant professor in animal veterinary food science, specializing in meat science, He discussed his role and involvement in CALS, describing his teaching, resource and extension position.
“The extension part of my position is a great opportunity to get out into the industry and share knowledge… I am also learning and bringing it back to my class and bringing it back to research,” Bass said. “That’s the cool thing about a land grant mission, if indeed a school is still following that. And I believe the University of Idaho has maintained that mission.”
With so many learning and involvement opportunities, CALS is able to efficiently teach and excite students in the agriculture industry, while successfully maintaining the University of Idaho’s establishing mission.
Photo Courtesy of the Soil Judging Team