This is the third part of a series exploring the work of EARTH University as they provide resources and support to future food systems leaders. Read parts one and two.
EARTH University in Costa Rica is using its long-term vision, EARTHShot, to expand the institution’s role in developing nature-positive, socially equitable agricultural systems. To achieve this mission, they recently launched a multi-year strategy through 2027 that is guided by the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“For the first time in our history, we have developed a vision for the impact we can have, and need to have, at a global level. To achieve this vision, we will need to be creative in our approach and we need to think expansively about scale,” Kevin Duffy, Chief Global Development Officer and Executive Director of the EARTH University Foundation, tells Food Tank.
The strategy identifies four primary food system challenges to target that are connected to specific SDGs: Food security for a growing population, poverty and inequality, global health and nutrition, and unsustainable agricultural practices and climate change.
EARTH centers the role of education within its action plan to enable food system change, believing that higher education institutions (HEIs) are critically important in the creation of agricultural leaders. “The world needs a massively greater number of effective, empowered change agents…to facilitate the transition to sustainability that is embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals,” Arturo Condo, President of EARTH, tells Food Tank.
The university has designed a comprehensive set of academic-related approaches to support its philosophy and to lay the foundation for strategy. These focus on developing the undergraduate program to better equip students who hope to build sustainable food systems, offering non-degree educational opportunities to prepare more leaders, and strengthening support for an international network of food systems change agents. They also aim to provide integrated solutions to food systems challenges and create new models that can broaden EARTH’s global impact.
EARTH Futures, the university’s global solutions center, plays an important role in helping translate the objects laid out in the strategy to real-world, cross-cutting initiatives related to climate change, social equity, and inclusion. The center works to develop, test, and scale solutions for key food systems challenges and works firsthand with rural producers and communities.
“In our program models, we integrate climate smart practices to prepare participants and communities with tools and knowledge to adapt and be resilient to the effects of climate change,” Javier Artiñano, Director of the Developing Solutions Program at EARTH Futures, tells Food Tank.
EARTH Future works closely with vulnerable, rural populations to address community needs using intersectional approaches. Artiñano explains that solutions are carefully designed and supported by fieldwork, community workshops, studies, and collaboration. The center has “successfully implemented dozens of models that have reached thousands of [farmers, organizations, and students].”
Condo believes that EARTH Futures has found great success with the Skills for the Future of Food Systems Program that partners with technical high schools to prepare rural youth for employment and entrepreneurship in agriculture.
“Students are super motivated, and their perspective in the world changes. Now they see themselves as entrepreneurs,” says Condo. “The magic is in everyone, I think, and what this system does is allow that spark to ignite.”
The university’s Fellowship Program, which helps prepare graduates for their transition into the workforce, is also working to increase the university’s leadership and impact through a strong alumni network. “EARTH graduates are working tirelessly on the ground with local partners to design and integrate solutions that can help smallholder producers make the transition…to nature-positive, human-positive practices,” explains Artiñano.
As the climate crisis makes food systems increasingly more fragile and global biodiversity decreases, Duffy asserts that “partnerships are essential” in achieving widespread change. He tells Food Tank “it’s clear” that academia, non-profit organizations, businesses, governments, and communities need to work together to effectively resolve challenges.
Several years ago, EARTH co-founded the University Global Coalition (UGC), a group of leaders from HEIs across the globe who are working in tandem to supplement and enforce the UN’s timeline for sustainable development agenda. And since 2021, EARTH, in partnership with institutions including the University of California-Davis, McGill University, and the University of São Paulo, are working to meet the dietary requirements of a growing global population.
“Only by working together across higher education and other sectors will it be possible to foster and accelerate the progress urgently needed to rescue the SDGs and deliver better results for the future of humanity and the planet,” says Condo.
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Photo courtesy of EARTH University
