Virginia Tech® home

Catawba Sustainability Center

Insert your title here

White buildings and silos of a farm surrounded by green fields and green forested mountains in the background.

A living laboratory for sustainable land management

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ROANOKE COUNTY

Located in the beautiful Catawba Valley of Virginia, the center's 377-acre farm property is a place of interdisciplinary research and hands-on learning. Through research, teaching, and demonstration of sustainable practices in agriculture, forestry, and land management, our work exemplifies the notion that learning is interdisciplinary and occurs in both the classroom and with hands in the soil. 

Featured programs

Grass-Fed Beef Partnership

This program supports the regional beef economy while also researching regenerative grazing practices.

Forest edible and medicinal plants

Research on Appalachian mountain plants such as ramps, goldenseal, and mushrooms puts forgotten land to use. 

Catawba Greenway

The Catawba Greenway provides access to the Appalachian Trail and McAfee Knob.