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The purpose of this research study was to understand the perceptions of controlled environment agriculture (CEA) held by individuals affiliated with the community garden Raleigh City Farm. Controlled environment agriculture refers to nontraditional growing methods largely defined by the absence of soil, the use of liquid nutrient solutions, and a controlled environment such as a greenhouse or indoor growing space (Jensen, 1999). CEA allows for greater farming efficiency, leading to larger crop yields by providing an ideal environment for growing as well as limiting pests and disease (Gomez et al., 2019). The innovations of CEA are well-documented in academia, but the general public has expressed unfamiliarity or distrust of the technology and growing methods. The purpose of this study was to analyze the perceptions of CEA in a civic agriculture setting and gain a perspective on how civic agriculture participants view CEA. To accomplish this, stakeholders at Raleigh City Farm (RCF), in Raleigh, North Carolina, were the focus of this case study. Individuals were interviewed on their backgrounds in agriculture, food purchasing habits, and perceptions held about conventional agriculture as well as controlled environment agriculture. This case study offers the opportunity to understand perceptions of CEA held by individuals who work closely within the food system. MALS

The COVID pandemic has had an impact on higher education, especially on experiential learning opportunities. Travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the cancelation of several study-abroad programs. To provide the much-needed in-person experience, we created an experiential learning course titled “Study in the USA" structured to accommodate variable domestic destinations. The key driver of the course is experiential learning, hands-on and face-to-face experience with industries involved in food production. The purpose of this course is to provide students with new insights through comparison and contrasting regional production practices across the United States. Specific objectives of the course are: 1) Provide students with a baseline understanding of experiential learning so they can apply academic learning in work settings appropriate for their career plans, 2) Engage students in developing skills and competencies relating to producing food in the time of COVID-19, and climate change, and 3) Develop a deeper understanding of challenges faced by people who are engaged in all aspects of agricultural enterprises. Overall, the course provided far more than academics to help students recover from the pandemic, it provided a perfect platform for social interaction which was missing for several years due to the COVID pandemic.

A key driver of the Arkansas trip was experiential learning, hands-on and face-to-face experience with industries involved in food production, marketing, and consumption. Emphasis will be on teamwork and acquiring skills necessary to solve real-world problems. The overall objective of the trip was to give insights into differences in production practices between Arkansas and Virginia. Differing experiences allow students to connect the dots between classroom learning, experiences already learned within Virginia, and a new cropping system that varies drastically. Presentation to the Virginia Crop Improvement Assocation.

The eastern Jura Mountains consist of the Jura fold-thrust belt and the autochthonous Tabular Jura and Vesoul-Montbéliard Plateau. They are drained by the river Rhine, which flows into the North Sea, and the river Doubs, which flows into the Mediterranean. The internal drainage systems of the Jura fold-thrust belt consist of rivers flowing in synclinal valleys that are linked by river segments cutting orthogonally through anticlines. The latter appear to employ parts of the antecedent Jura Nagelfluh drainage system that had developed in response to Late Burdigalian uplift of the Vosges-Back Forest Arch, prior to Late Miocene-Pliocene deformation of the Jura fold-thrust belt. The following stages are recognized in the evolution of the Jura Mountain drainage systems: 1) middle to late Tortonian (10-7.2Ma) folding-related overpowering and partial reversal of the south-directed Jura Nagelfluh drainage system, 2) Messinian to early Pliocene (7.2-4.2Ma) Aare-Danube and proto-Doubs stage, 3) early to middle Pliocene (4.2-2.9Ma) Aare-Doubs stage, 4) late Pliocene to early Quaternary (2.9-1.7Ma) Aare-Rhine and Doubs stage and 5) Quaternary (1.7-0Ma) Alpine-Rhine and Doubs stage. Development of the thin-skinned Jura fold-thrust belt controlled the first three stages of this drainage system evolution, whilst the last two stages were essentially governed by the subsidence of the Upper Rhine Graben, which resumed during the late Pliocene. Late Pliocene and Quaternary deep incision of the Aare-Rhine/Alpine-Rhine and its tributaries in the Jura Mountains and Black Forest is mainly attributed to lowering of the erosional base level in the continuously subsiding Upper Rhine Graben. Incision of the Doubs and Dessoubre canyons reflects uplift of the Franches-Montagnes and Franche-Comté in response to thick-skinned deformation of the Jura fold-thrust belt, which had commenced around 3Ma. Geodetic data indicate that uplift of the Jura Mountains, relative to the Tabular Jura, presently continues at very low strain rates whilst the Upper Rhine Graben subsides very slowly and the Black Forest is relatively stable