Title: Unit 15 Lab Assignment
Course: SAT 105 Urban Agricultural Issues > Section: SAT 105 Urban Agricultural Issues

Unit 15 Lab Assignment

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Lab Assignment (60 points)

This lab will explore uses of agricultural outputs. As we saw in the presentation, video and reading assignment non-crop agricultural outputs can create issues of disposal.  However as we also saw there are solutions to the disposal problems and the solutions may provide additional benefits and possibly additional income or at least cost-savings to the farmer.

Requirements
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Instructions

This lab assignment is a thought exercise about agricultural outputs.  If you have a vegetable garden or a farm for that matter, examine the outputs it generates other than the intended crops.  If you do not have a garden or farm try to visit one and spend some time talking to the owner regarding the types of outputs generated other than the crops.

1. Describe the garden or farm including its location, size and the type(s) of crops or livestock it produces.
2. List the types of outputs it generates other than the intended crops.  Your list must contain at least five items. Try to think broadly here, not just the obvious physical materials generated. If you think about it carefully you will see that some of the “outputs” are incidental to the fact that a garden or farm exists in that location and some may not even be physical outputs.
3. For each item listed indicate if it is a waste product, such as plant residue or animal manure, or not.
4. Write a summary of each item on your list.
5. Write a description of how each output may be used in a way that benefits the producer or the environment rather than being thought of as a disposal problem.  For instance if the output is plant residue, perhaps it is composted or used in some other way, such straw left after harvesting wheat can be used as animal bedding.
6. Write your conclusion about how agricultural outputs can be utilized.  Answer the following questions.

- Can a farm or garden truly be “zero waste” and “zero landfill”?
- Can the practices that allow “waste” to be utilized as a benefit be scaled to work on large-scale farms?
- Can the same practices be applied to other situations, for instance an average suburban yard? What would be some objections people might have to these practices?