SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TEACHING & RESEARCH FARM
 The Sustainable Development Teaching and Research Farm, located in nearby Valle Crucis, purposefully straddles academic theory and community outreach through practice. Since its move to the location in 2001, it has blossomed and is regionally recognized as an innovative educational research facility.
The farm’s purpose is to educate our students in Agroecology, Agroforestry and sustainable, organic / alternative farming practice. This experimentation and information is then exchanged with the local community in an effort to help local farmers and entrepreneurs better build and foster alternative, sustainable agricultural practice in the region.
The SD Farm also partners with other research initiatives from state and local agencies, NC Universities as well as various ASU Departments, including Biology, Technology, and Geography and Planning.
The SD Farm is very important to the program and is regionally recognized as an innovative educational and research facility. ASU has a long-term lease for the farm from the Valle Crucis Conference Center (VCCC), and the land was recently designated part of an agricultural conservation easement protection plan.
The SD Agroecology Lab
 The SD Agroecology laboratory, a space which supports the Farm and Sustainable Development education, is located in the historic “Apple Barn” just down the road from the SD Farm. We renovated the bottom portion of the structure into a facility to support the Farm and serve as a lab space for the SD courses in agroecology. It also houses a graduate student office and the original 100-year-old cork-lined cold storage room.
The space is a wonderful place to learn new agricultural methodology and practice while retaining the richness and flavor of the old ways. In many respects, the project embodies the goal of Sustainable Development ~ it uses new and innovative techniques and theory while appropriating those many useful ideas and practices from the past.
Students often study here during the day and go to the upper area of the barn at night for contra dancing, since the upper portion of this historic structure is a favorite public spot for wedding receptions, parties, and all sorts of community gatherings.
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