WSU is now offering a sustainable agriculture certificate online for those in the graduate program who, in any major, are interested in sustainability.

Sustainability in agriculture is an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having site-specific application that will last for the long term, said Timothy Murray, professor and extension plant pathologist.

The certificate will cover the role of sustainability in more than just the agricultural fields, said Lynn Carpenter-Boggs, associate professor of department of crop and soil sciences.

Anyone with graduate status can take three classes and obtain a certificate in sustainability.

“You can also come in to the graduate program just to get the certificate and that’s a good idea for working professionals who don’t have time for a full graduate program,” Carpenter-Boggs said.

Most people who decide to take advantage of this certificate are already well on their way to their Ph.D. or in a Master’s program in an agriculture-related field. That doesn’t mean, however, that you have to be in agriculture to obtain this certificate, Carpenter-Boggs said.

Chad Kruger, director of the WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, said people have endangered the environment over the past century.

“Sustainability is the concept that we need to leave the planet in the condition in which future generations have a chance,” Kruger said. “And some of the technology and behavior of the last 100 years puts that in peril.”

Kruger said WSU has implemented sustainability practices with emphasis on consumption of power and water usage on campus, which may have been driven by the financial incentive of going green. This is the same reason some companies and organizations have moved toward mainstreaming sustainability in their operations.

There is a big movement toward sustainable agriculture in processing and manufacturing.

Sustainability can be defined and practiced by architects and their use of urban planning, also the goal of design companies looking to leave a green impact on the earth and have open space available for gardens. Sustainability will also help naturally regulate the temperature of plants to assist with healthy sustainable growth, Carpenter-Boggs stated.

WSU’s sustainable agriculture certificate contributes to the green tradition WSU and other places around the world have developed.

The role of sustainability in today’s global economy has a lot to do with the environment and our human impact on earth, Kruger said. Sustainability, he said, is bigger than agriculture.