From Grand Junction to Walsh and everywhere in between, CSU graduate students in the Agricultural Biology 505: Exploring Colorado Agricultural Systems class traveled around the state last summer to experience firsthand the diverse variety of systems that make up Colorado agriculture.

Their journey brought them to research centers that are part of the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station. Students learned about the crops grown in each region, disease and pest management techniques and production limitations such as water, transportation, equipment and labor. They also learned about integration of energy capture and agriculture (agrivoltaics) and toured an operation where sheep grazed under solar panels.

Students engaged with agricultural producers, industry representatives and policy makers who shared their expertise and discussed threats and solutions to agricultural sustainability and food security.

“Seeing the passion of each of the research scientists and people connected to the research, their thought process to improve the agriculture in different geographies from the dry Plainsman, to saline Arkansas Valley, to the luscious orchards of the Western Slope, and listening to them advocating for the farmers has instilled in me new vigor to focus my research to do something worthy for the community,” said Sanskriti Shrestha, an engineering master’s student who took the course in 2022, its first year. “I believe community interaction was the most important aspect of this entire class.”