05/30/06 Organic major approved at WSU

Washington Ag May 30, 2006 Washington State University has received approval from the state Higher Education Coordinating Board to offer a Bachelor`s of Science degree in Agriculture and Food Systems starting this fall. Five majors will be offered, including what WSU claims is the nation`s first major in organic agriculture systems. The new interdisciplinary degree will integrate coursework from all agricultural disciplines in the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences. It will replace eliminated undergraduate degrees in General Agriculture, Agricultural Technology and Management, Entomology and Biological Systems Engineering as well as an Integrated Cropping Systems degree at WSU Tri-Cities. Non-agricultural degrees in the college will not be affected and students in affected programs will be able to complete the degree they started. Delayed planting forced a postponement of Washington State University`s Organic Dryland Grain Crop Field Day. The event, originally scheduled for June 7th, has been rescheduled for June 20th at the Les and Pat Boyd farm located just north of the Moscow-Pullman Airport. Among other topics, researchers will talk about how to make the transition to organic. The event is free and open to the public. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. on June 20th. I'm Bob Hoff.