Garden to Table: A Natural Marriage Between Dieticians and Crop Scientists in the Classroom.

There is growing demand for the availability of safe and nutritious food that is grown locally. This demand is expressed by a renewed interest in vegetable and fruit gardening, oftentimes by groups that include members with little or no previous experience. As a result, faculty at Dickinson State University and North Dakota State University agreed to team-teach an experimental course on home production of fruit, herb, and vegetable crops. In part, what to select and grow in the garden was based on human nutrition factors which were described by a registered dietician. How to grow what was selected was discussed by a formally trained and experienced crop scientist. The class included cooking demonstrations where student participants became active learners, along with faculty, in preparing and consuming foods that included the fruit, herb, and vegetable crops discussed in class. Student participants appreciated the team approach where both human nutrition and crop production expertise were represented: faculty members were applauded in several sessions during the teaching of the course. Student evaluations of the approach taken in developing the course – creating a team comprised of a registered dietician and crop scientist -  were overwhelmingly positive, with students requesting that the course be continued and expanded. We encourage agronomists, horticulturalists, crop scientists, and others to consider inviting registered dieticians and food scientists to team-teach food production courses which oftentimes are assigned to faculty without human nutrition expertise.