ALUMNI

Name: Greg Rekken Graduation Year: May 2006 Resource and Region Specializations: Sustainable Agriculture/Horticulture and Southeast Asian Studies Favourite Courses: Climatology (AGRO 244 I think) My directed studies at the UBC Farm Southeast Asian studies (various courses) Sustainable soil management (AGRO 402) Biology: vascular plants, second year class, can’t remember the course number Current Job Title: Farm Manager/trainer I am on a CUSO placement, working with a Burmese NGO. This is my second CUSO placement since graduating. I also worked on a food security project in Indonesia. Location: Chiang Mai, Thailand Job Description: – Manage everyday operations at the organizations Model farm – Train program participants in sustainable agriculture – Develop a curriculum for a “training of trainers” farmer field school, focusing on experiential adult learning – Conducting relevant research in low external input sustainable agriculture – Helping with the never ending search for funding! – A bunch of other stuff that you would never expect…. Recommended Organizations: – CUSO, or soon to be CUSO-VSO: www.cuso.org – Network for Environment and Economic Development (NEED – Burma): http://www.need-burma.org/ – Don’t forget the importance of the UBC Farm! I accredit most of my knowledge and ability to secure meaningful employment to the UBC Farm where I worked and volunteered for several years. The farm provided me with the practical skills to make it in the real world, and was a nice balance and testing ground for the theory taught in classes. – IDEP, a Bali, Indonesia based organization doing work in sustainable development. They do a variety of work, but have accomplished some interesting things in sustainable agriculture and have published a variety of sustainable agriculture and permaculture books. http://www.idepfoundation.org/ – Earth Rights International is a human rights organization that does an array of activities and trainings: http://www.earthrights.org/