Observing Indicators of Foodshed Health

Wildlife in gardens, farms, ranches, and surrounding ecosystems provide a number of services essential to food production.  Many industrial agricultural attempts to “improve” on these services by means of pesticides, herbicides, synthetic fertilizers, fossil fuel energy, and GMOs have proven unsustainable and often destructive of these natural processes.  Biologically based food production on the other hand depends on these services, and the health of the garden, farm, or ranch ecosystem can be indicated by the abundance of several easily observed animals.

The presence and numbers of many of the ecosystem service providers listed above can be seen as indicators of the health of those growing areas and of the whole foodshed.  In addition some wild species might not aid us directly as much in growing food as they indicate the health of the overall ecosystem on which our food production depends.  For example, dragonflies certainly eat agricultural pests, but are better known as good indicators of the quality of the water in an area.  Watch for indicators beyond the garden, farm, or ranch as well since they are clues to the health of the whole foodshed—an example being the pika in the high mountains, which indicate how much warming is happening up where the snowpack that our irrigation supplies come from accumulates.

The modes of observation for gardeners, farmers, ranchers, and others depend on the observer’s age, objective, observing target, time, and personal preference.  All modes are valuable and in the case of children can support varied educational outcomes.

1. Unstructured observation—driven by curiosity and aided by quiet time in the setting, perhaps out of sight. (Our choice as the most basic skill to develop for a lifetime.)
2. Observations as above with an objective specified.
3. Measuring or counting.
4. Monitoring—measuring or counting over time.
5. Sharing observations with others.
6. Sharing with scientists and others through Citizen Science programs to increase scientific knowledge and solutions.
7. Sharing related observations among observers and organizations in a specified network often with a specific objective — such as a transect across a mountain range, elevation gradient, river course, etc

Age considerations:

• Preschools: In our work with preschoolers, we feel that observations as in #1 and 2 above are well suited to any age, that measuring and counting are appropriate for older preschoolers, and that if the teacher serves as the photographer, recorder, and communicator, that even some Citizen Science programs are appropriate. (Cornell’s Bird Feeder Watch or Lost Ladybug projects for example).
• Elementary and middle schools can be involved, especially if the teacher or coordinator serves as the technical support as above.
• High school students can get involved further by designing projects, analyzing data, interviews (eg., Vegetable Varieties Project), and more.
• Farmers and ranchers, especially those selling to schools can serve as technical resource experts for school projects, and can do parallel observations on their land to share with students.
• Community members can act as observers and technical resource people (ornithologists, entomologists, naturalists, etc.) for school and agricultural operations.

Citizen Science (monitoring and reporting observations to the scientific community) can provide an opportunity to learn about serious issues in a positive and constructive way.  We see that simply hearing about serious issues such as climate change and wildlife losses can lead to ignoring them or feeling helpless to address them.  In Citizen Science, the acts of learning and then contributing to solutions are elegantly combined in the process of observing and reporting those observations to the scientific community.  These activities can also elevate the field of science in the public’s eye, which is sorely needed especially in regard to climate change.

There are many fascinating Citizen Science projects already online and ready to use—for all ages (click on an Observing Target in the sidebar on the Observing page to see specific Citizen Science projects).  Data can usually be submitted by smart phones as well as computers.  For schools, they are designed to meet curricular standards including many fields of study.  Prestigious science organizations such as Cornell University, Chicago Botanic Garden, National Phenology Network, and the Xerces Society run these programs.  Ideally, schools, farmers, ranchers, community science experts, nature centers, and others would be involved, sharing findings locally, regionally, as well as nationally.