Paper short abstract:

Climate smart agriculture (CSA) offers interdisciplinary career opportunities for marginalized students. We present empirical data of post-secondary Latinx marginalized students’ knowledge growth and CSA career goals for SDGs attainment due to access to research, teaching, and extension programs.

Paper long abstract:

The disproportionate impacts of our changing climate including droughts, hurricanes, cold spells, sea level rise, and heat waves are more liable for vulnerable populations living in the Southeastern U.S. Climate smart agriculture (CSA) advancements are delineated in five of the six United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) strategic goals. The sixth goal centers on fostering a more inclusive workforce that reflects the diversity of American communities. A primary goal of U.S. land grant institutions is to develop research, teaching, and extension programs that produce direct educational relevance to the daily lives of the broad segment of citizens. Underrepresented communities and groups however are often marginalized in this practical symbiosis of research, teaching, and extension of food and agricultural innovations that may impact their lives. Our project was funded by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program. We implemented a retrospective post pre-evaluation design to assess students’ CSA knowledge and career aspirations upon participation in a seminar focused on water sustainability through the implementation of CSA innovations. To address the sixth USDA goal, we examined Latinx student responses only for this abstract. The data indicated that based on the targeted seminar intervention Latinx students increased their knowledge by ~40% and shared testimonials as to their elevated interest in pursuing CSA careers post-graduation. Educational interventions in formal classrooms and nonformal contexts such as extension, advisory, and outreach programs can serve to increase marginalized students and stakeholders’ access to climate change knowledge and innovations.