This is the first part of a series exploring the work of EARTH University as they provide resources and support to future food systems leaders.
EARTH University is a private, nonprofit college in the Limón Province of Costa Rica that offers a four-year undergraduate program in Agricultural Sciences. Through its non-traditional design, EARTH is working to address the most pressing issues within food systems and create a new generation of agricultural leaders.
EARTH was launched in 1986 by the Costa Rican government with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Its founding was based on the belief that “local leaders with a global perspective is an essential part of the solution to help build a movement of leaders who support nature and community positive agriculture” Kevin Duffy, Chief Global Development Officer and Executive Director of the EARTH University Foundation, tells Food Tank.
EARTH’s administrators see Costa Rica as an optimal home for the institution. “It’s a visionary country that has had visionary leaders, and has made bold decisions,” Arturo Condo, President of EARTH University, tells Food Tank. “Costa Rica’s ethos and national values…were a big part of setting [EARTH] up at the beginning—that alone set the tone.”
Close to 100 percent of Costa Rica’s electricity is derived from renewable energy sources, according to the International Trade Administration. And the country’s Payment for Environmental Services (PES) program, which has helped landowners, especially farmers, transition to more environmentally-friendly techniques through direct payments from the government. By 2050, Costa Rica has declared that its economy will be completely decarbonized.
Within this ecosystem, EARTH strives to create a diverse community, which they believe is foundational to the university’s food system reform strategy. There are over 50 countries from Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean represented by EARTH’s student body, faculty and staff. Around 60 percent of all students attend the university on full scholarship.
“[Admissions] are central to us, because we want to change the world through our graduates…we believe strongly that comes from leaders who can represent the whole of society,” says Condo. He explains that candidates for EARTH are not chosen by test scores but by how “they are already leading and showing initiative in their [home] communities and countries.”
EARTH’s academic model is guided by the university’s commitment to environmental stewardship and entrepreneurship. The interdisciplinary curriculum introduces students to a variety of food systems fields, including food production and processing, food science, economics, and energy and technology. Classes are designed to offer hands-on experiences to students through active engagement with the agricultural environment and with rural communities on food-related projects.
This approach seeks to train students to think critically, be experimental and explore their own questions about agriculture and food. “It’s not only learning by doing in terms of applying what they learn in the classroom or applying what they read [to real-world scenarios], but actually doing in practice what they think is interesting,” explains Condo.
EARTH administrators are currently working to build more opportunities for entrepreneurship into the curriculum. “We have begun to invest significantly more resources in this area to give these future food systems leaders more tools to create change in their home communities,” Duffy tells Food Tank. This is reflected in efforts to increase professors and classes dedicated to teaching business-building topics related to marketing and supply chain innovation.
The university is also launching its Social Entrepreneurship Program, with the Mastercard Foundation, offering another avenue for students to lead change within the food and agriculture sphere. Duffy believes this program will assist in “making small capital investments in student business ideas and establishing an Entrepreneur-in-Residence program.”
In addition to its work with students, EARTH has always sought to extend its reach beyond campus. In 2018, EARTH Futures—a global solutions center that enables sustainable development in rural communities—was created. Through partnerships with local actors, the center is creating solutions to community problems. This work helps to increase food security and sovereignty, improve resource management, create equitable job opportunities, and strengthen climate change resilience. Since 2021 EARTH Futures has expanded its Education for Leadership program to several countries in Africa, its Developing Solutions program to Guatemala, and are actively developing plans for the continued expansion of these programs.
As the effects of the climate crisis intensify, EARTH hopes to inspire young people to see the potential in agriculture and to lead the change.
“People are leaving rural areas of this world because they don’t see a future,” Condo explains. “The only way to change it is through [the students]. They can go back and be entrepreneurial…and do it in a sustainable, regenerative, viable way.”
Condo eventually hopes to see EARTH’s solutions influence other parts of the world. To increase student opportunities for agricultural training and education, EARTH is developing new academic programs, including a master’s program and an E-learning option.
“It’s having great success, but it’s also been a big source of learning. Nobody can achieve global change alone,” says Condo. “It will be through many alliances and many partnerships, and that’s a new type of challenge for us.”
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Photo courtesy of EARTH University
