Features
Twenty Years A-Growing
After two decades and almost 2,000 students it can truthfully be said that an t-Ionad Glas, the Organic College at Dromcollgher, Co. Limerick, has become something of an institution – in the best possible way. It has positively influenced the lives of many involved in the organic world in Ireland today. From small beginnings, the college evolved into a centre that now produces commercial growers and graduates who go on to work in many related areas.
Co-operative Ethos
The fact that the college exists at all can be attributed mainly to the skills of Director, Jim McNamara, who has been a guiding influence since its inception. As an idealistic agriculture graduate, Jim left UCD in 1972 to work in Paris, already acutely conscious of environmental issues and deeply influenced by Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. He lodged with mime students of Marcel Marceau and soon discovered that they shopped at small markets around Paris and bought mainly organic food. “If it helped you perform better in the arts, it was good enough for me,” he says.
Coming home to teach, Jim felt that something was missing in the educational system in Ireland. Taking a broader view of the curriculum, he introduced environmental education to his students and set up a school garden. Guided by the co-operative ethos and a vision of a learner driven education system, Jim was happy to become Jim McNamara involved with the fledgling organic at an t-Ionad Glas college. “We view our students as ‘colearners’ and have the basic aim to upskill everyone who comes through the door. Students come here both to live and learn and lifelong learning is at the core of our existence,” he says.
Rewarding Challenges
Beginning the trend of student turned teacher, Dr. Sinead Neiland was one of the early students who took the course at the organic college and returned to teach in 1997. Coming from a science background and with previous teaching experience, this was a natural progression for Sinead. She sees huge change in the years she has been associated with the college. “We’ve gone from less than ten students each year to a situation where our numbers are now capped at sixty,” she says. “Now we have more space, more land and more scope to develop.”
The camaraderie and good humour of students is something that is noticeable, even from a brief visit to the college. “The benefits of being here are not just about learning to grow organically,” Sinead says. “We get such a varied mix of age groups and backgrounds that it becomes something of a melting pot. Young and old students mix and the younger ones learn a lot from those with greater life experience.”
Sinead enjoys the challenges of teaching and getting students through the curriculum. “Often, we get people who have been out of the education system for a long time and who find exams challenging. It’s very rewarding to see them get through and it opens up so many possibilities for them to develop.”
Future Needs
Because of the cap on numbers potential students have to be turned away every year, a fact which frustrates Jim. “We need more learner places and we need a wider range of courses,” he says. His wish list goes on – “we need more and better mentoring arrangements with experienced growers; we need better field scale machinery, modern packing and storage facilities, a seed library and more food processing facilities. We further need to put in place substantial renewable energy projects, involving solar, wind and bio-fuels. A full time gardener would also be a great help.”
Sinead agrees. “There is an opening for more organic producers. We currently import so much produce that could be substituted with locally grown. There is a genuine interest among people who want to fulfil that role. We need a new and better range of FETAC modules at level 6 to provide the level of training required.”
The college is planning a major event on the 11th September (The Organic Picnic 2011) to celebrate its twentieth anniversary. Other activities planned for the year include an extended library, a graduate’s room, a Tearmann (quiet room) and a modernised kitchen. In addition the college is consulting with friends and graduates via the website for further events and publications.
The recent acquisition of a further one and a half acres of land for field scale production and the development of facilities at the college reflect Jim and Sinead’s optimism for the future of organic education and sustainable rural communities. “Organic production is still holding its own despite the recession so it proves that it is not just a fad,” she says. “There are people who are interested in organic, health and community and they are looking for something - and we are offering what they are looking for.”
“Perhaps now more than ever, we need to re-envision the organic and the co-operative ethos and to articulate it with the tools and language of the twenty first century. The gains for doing this will be not just in the health of our people and our communities, but in the pride of taking our place among the caring peoples of the world,” says Jim.
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