Sabrina Rosario knew a trip to Europe would be about making and strengthening connections. But she also discovered some important ones she hadn’t known about.
Rosario is director of Kansas Wesleyan’s Community Resilience Hub (CRH). CRH is launching a hands-on training in regenerative agriculture and addressing food security, among other things, as a way to advance community resilience.
Her husband, Dr. Leonardo Rosario, is director of the strings program at Kansas Wesleyan. In November, he was accepted into a conducting masterclass with the Berlin Sinfonietta in Germany. Naturally, Sabrina wanted to be there when he directed the sinfonietta at the end of the class.
As it happens, Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development is only about an hour, by train, from Berlin. Eberswalde and Kansas Wesleyan are members of the Resilience Studies Consortium, a group of nine universities and colleges across the U.S. and Eberswalde that promotes educational opportunities in sustainability and resiliency.
Eberswalde invited Sabrina Rosario to speak, and she connected with Eberswalde’s international office coordinator to explore if our students could participate in an exchange program. She also met with faculty and students studying food systems, sustainable agriculture and agroforestry.
“I was impressed that the whole institution is about sustainable development,” she said. “I was surprised they also were impressed with what we’re doing in Kansas and that they would be interested in sending students here to learn how we are teaching regenerative agriculture.”
An exchange program is still at the conversation stage, but Rosario sees the possibility as “a great opportunity for our students.”
She discovered another opportunity for students in Italy.
“I had the chance to do something different when we went to Italy,” Rosario said. “The Rodale Institute has a research center there, in Parma.”
Kansas Wesleyan and Rodale are connected through the Heartland Rodale Institute Farmer Training Program (RIFT), a course to train gardeners and farmers in regenerative, sustainable farming practices. The first Heartland RIFT course at Kansas Wesleyan will start in March and go to October, one complete growing season. The first cohort is full and has a waiting list.
The research center in Parma studies food, as well as researching ingredients that go into sustainable cosmetics made by the Davines Group.
“The dream in Italy would be a longer-term project than in Germany,” Rosario said. “If any of our students would like to learn about farming in Europe, the director would be open to receiving them as interns.”
The company also has a branch in the U.S., Rosario said. In conjunction with Rodale, Davines promotes the Good Farmer Award, which is given to people farming less than 10 years and using sustainable practices. It will be the first time the U.S. award will be given.
“I was invited to be part of the panel of judges to decide who will be given the Good Farmer Award on Earth Day in New York,” she said, considering it an honor.
Rosario also made a personal connection: a cousin who lives near Cremona, Italy. They had been corresponding for 20 years or more but had never met. Their great-grandfathers were brothers and grew up on a farm.
“She took me to the farm where my great-grandfather was born,” Rosario said. “For me, it was very emotional — when I saw the building where he was born, I literally hugged it.
“It was a very special moment to hear about it and to think that what I do with the CRH today is going back to my roots. At first, I thought it was so special my ancestors were farmers and the tie-in with my job today.
“But maybe all of us, if we go back a few generations, will find a much stronger connection to the land. We have become so disconnected to the land, but our ancestors were not. I came back thinking how can we give anyone — our students, the people in the program that I’m working with and our community — the chance to feel connected with the land again.”
Story by Jean Kozubowski
