Topic: Care Farming Training and Research: Building the next generation of Care Farmers

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Join us for a conversation about training the next generation of Care Farmers and the growing research available on the benefits of Care Farming. Both presenters are professors, knowledgeable about Care Farming, and actively engaged in teaching about Care Farming in the classroom and farm setting!

Some of the discussion will focus on the following:

• Highlighting current research on care farming: what is being studied? How is this useful to care farms?
• What schools are training the next generation of Care Farmers. How are they doing this, and what are they offering?

Presenters

Sarah Himmelheber Ph.D., L.C.S.W. Assistant Professor of Social Work | Director of Field Education, Warren Wilson College

As a teenager, I worked at Bassett’s Original Turkey in the mall food court, and it was this part-time job that spurred my interest in community food security. Every night as I closed that kitchen, I threw away whole loaves of fresh bread, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and, of course, lots of turkey. Because I also regularly volunteered at a local soup kitchen, I was struck by the absurd simultaneity of food waste and hunger. I began taking these leftovers to a nearby shelter, and over the next 20+ years, my interest in food recovery has persisted and developed into my primary area of research and activism. In addition to community food security, I’m also interested in mental health, since much of my clinical practice centered on supporting people with severe and persistent mental illness. In the classroom, this has translated into research about how mindfulness and techniques from Dialectical Behavioral Therapy can support students in the field and throughout their careers.

Rebecca Calisi Rodríguez Associate Professor Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior UC Davis

I grew up in Texas, surrounded by cattle and horses, living for the summers I would get to spend at my family’s ranch on the Texas-Mexico border. In the tough times I’ve experienced over the last few years, especially during the pandemic, I once again was able to bear witness to the healing effect of horses, and ranch work in general. What’s more, so have my children! Upon seeing how human-horse interactions continue to profoundly and positively impact the ability of so many to overcome a multitude of challenges, the animal behaviorist and stress biologist in me went down a rabbit hole to eventually discover the emerging field of “Green Care” research. Fascinated and inspired, I am excited to collaborate with researchers at UC Davis’ #1 ranked veterinary program, including our Center for Equine Health, as well as our Office for Public Scholarship and Engagement, to extend a significant portion of my research program offsite to a 22-acre ranch in west Davis – Pine Trails Ranch.