“We call ourselves an ‘experience farm,’” says Topaz. “But we could just as easily call ourselves an educational farm.” 

Topaz Farm grows vegetables, berries and more—but it also participates in something called agritourism, a broad term that includes activities and events that bring visitors to the farm. This relationship between the farm and the greater community has been critical to the farm’s survival over the past few years.

When Abeles and Topaz first acquired their land on Sauvie Island, it had been conventionally farmed for decades and had “virtually nothing good in the soil,” says Topaz. As they began to farm the land, they also endeavored to learn about regenerative techniques to foster healthier soil—supplementing with microbes, biochar and more. But these things don’t transform soil overnight, and in the meantime, it was difficult to make enough income through traditional farming alone. This was coupled with other mishaps that often befall small farms. The first year, deer ate two acres of strawberries while Topaz and Abeles were sleeping. This past year, squash bugs helped wipe out their pumpkin crop. Their forays into agritourism have kept the farm afloat.

“We think that for farmers to become sustainable financially and to remain in business and to keep farming, they have to have the flexibility to have diverse revenue sources,” says Abeles.

They aren’t the only ones who feel this way. When announcing the results from the 2022 Census of Agriculture this February, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said that many farmers rely on off-farm income to keep their production afloat, and he supports diversifying farmers’ income streams to keep farming economically feasible, although he didn’t mention agritourism specifically.

But despite many farms depending on extra revenue, which agritourism can provide, farmers such as Topaz and Abeles face challenges in navigating agritourism laws. According to Oregon’s legal code, farms can have “farm stands” as long as no more than 25 percent of the sales are attributable to “incidental items and fees from promotional activity.” This includes some but not all aspects of agritourism. But it doesn’t always make sense to Topaz and Abeles what fits into which category—it’s a problem, since there’s a hard cap on incidentals. For example, if they sell tickets to a farm dinner and prepare guests food made from the produce harvested on the farm, this can’t exceed 25 percent of their “farm stand” income. 

Left: At Topaz Farm, as with many agritourism farms, education is a key component. Right: A sign listing some agritourism activities visitors can participate in. (Photography by Topaz Farm)

Other issues emerged. They were told by a county official that if they host live music, it can’t be called a concert. But it is OK to call it a “harvest festival featuring a live music performance.” If a class of school children comes to the farm for an educational field trip and it’s raining (as it often does in northwest Oregon), Abeles and Topaz want to be able to utilize tents, but the county has flagged this as an issue as well, with the outcome yet to be decided.

“We used to say Mother Nature was the most challenging part of farming,” says Topaz. “We’ve replaced that with Multnomah County and the state being the most difficult thing that we deal with. And we’re not alone.”

The immense counterweight to all of these restrictions is that land use laws are in place for a reason: to protect the integrity of farmland. Across the country, millions of acres of farmland have been lost over the last 30 years, due to development and other forms of land conversion. What farmers, conservationists, lawmakers and residents of Oregon and the rest of the country are faced with is a delicate dilemma: How do you preserve the integrity of the country’s best farmland without sacrificing the livelihood of the farmer in the process? 

Agritourism on the farm

“Agritourism” is an umbrella term that encompasses so many different things. The National Agricultural Law Center defines agritourism as the “crossroads” of agriculture and tourism; it draws visitors to farms for educational, entertainment or recreational purposes, and it is intended to increase farm income. Examples vary widely; corn mazes, on-farm markets, farm stays and bed and breakfasts, U-pick opportunities, farm-to-table dinners, tours and classes are all examples of agritourism, and there are a lot more, too. 

This breadth is a double-edged sword. On one hand, there are a lot of different and customizable opportunities to bring in extra income on farms. But, at the same time, regulating all of these different activities as a monolith doesn’t make sense. As a result, the type of agritourism a farm can practice and how much of the business it can be isn’t consistent, not just state to state, but even county to county.

“There is not one nationally or internationally recognized definition,” says Audrey Comerford, an agritourism coordinator at Oregon State University Extension. “Which means it’s kind of an amoeba … [It] encompasses a lot of different things depending on the location.”

Comerford co-authored a new economic impact report on agritourism in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Of the 18,679 farms in the Willamette Valley, about 4,000 of them may be engaged in some kind of agritourism. For these farms, agritourism can account for as much as 50 percent of their business. 

Comerford says Oregon’s land use laws seem to be stricter than those in other places in general. A national survey from the University of Vermont echoes this point, finding that farmers on the West Coast listed legal regulations as one of their biggest hurdles to agritourism. 

Live music featuring Gregory Alan Isakov at Topaz Farm. (Photography by Sara Wright)

The idea of gathering on farms is not new, says Lisa Chase, director of the Vermont Tourism Research Center at the University of Vermont and lead author of this survey. That’s something that’s been around as long as we’ve had agriculture. The more recent development is the profound disconnect between most people and the farms that feed them—direct on-farm jobs accounted for less than 2 percent of US employment in 2022. 

“What’s new is this disconnect with agriculture, for almost all of the US population, and that provides an opportunity for farms to help the non-farming public learn about food production, and [it] also provide some additional income for the farms,” says Chase.

In this way, agritourism provides an opportunity to increase the “agricultural literacy” of the public. But agritourism is a term that should be only reserved for working farms, says Chase. Unfortunately, that’s a tough thing to quantify.

“The fact that it’s a working farm needs to be included, and then it becomes a question of how do you measure that,” says Chase.

In Oregon, farmers such as Abeles and Topaz of Topaz Farm have to carefully navigate the rule that only 25 percent of their farm stand income can come from “incidental items” and “fees from promotional activity.” Another approach would be to use time spent or labor percentage instead of income, says Chase—something she’s seen in Italy. The benefit of this method is that these incidentals, such as farm stays or farm dinners, earn more over less time. This approach limits the amount of time spent devoted to agritourism, instead of capping the portion of income that is derived from it.

“It became problematic for farms who could make so much money from their overnight farm stays and not as much money from the food they were producing, even though it was a legitimate working farm,” says Chase.

A farm to table dinner at Topaz Farm. (Photography by Topaz Farm)

Even though this is a hard thing to try to quantify, getting it right is paramount. Chase says that, not too long ago, she had a phone call from a developer who was talking about starting an agricultural theme park and was curious about agritourism. Chase advised them that they shouldn’t use that word if they weren’t going to be running a working farm. 

“This is exactly what people are worried about,” says Chase. “As agritourism grows in popularity, it is a real concern. And the core of agritourism is that you’re a working farm. And I think that is what needs to be maintained in the regulations.”

‘Exclusive farm use’

Protecting farmland from losing its working farms is a key concern for Greg Holmes, Working Lands Program Director/Southern Oregon Advocate for 1000 Friends of Oregon, an organization that advocates for land-use planning.

Oregon passed Senate Bill 100 in 1973, creating the Department of Land Conservation and Development. This legislation and subsequent entity became the framework for land use protections in Oregon and, over the last 50 years, has protected much of Oregon’s fertile farmland (as well as forest land and conservation land) by labeling it as “exclusive farm use.”

While the state creates the regulations, it’s up to individual counties to zone the land. This can create some confusion, but the differentiation is essential. The land and the ecosystems it supports vary drastically throughout the state, from the damp, fertile Willamette Valley in the northwest corner of the state to the arid high desert of the eastern half of Oregon down to the piney shared border with California. Zoning all of these counties as though they are the same would come with its own problems. On top of this county-to-county variation, soil suitable for farmland is defined slightly differently for the west side of the Cascade Range versus the east side. 

“There [is] various room for interpretation and different counties apply the regulations, as they understand them, slightly differently,” says Holmes. “The result is that every county has something that fits the definition of exclusive farm use. And it’s protected and zoned for the purpose of protecting agriculture.”

Under Oregon’s legal code, if a farm on exclusive farm use land has a farmstand, income generated from the “incidental” items or “fee-based activity” sold there must be no more than 25 percent of the total farm stand revenue. Agritourism does not fall neatly into this split. For example, U-pick offerings don’t count toward the 25 percent, but tickets to a farm-to-table dinner do. The point is to prevent abuse of farmland—for example, selling things at a farmstand that don’t have anything to do with farming.

“The point of the limitation on the incidental sales is they want to make sure that it remains a farmstand and doesn’t have a store that happens to be located on agricultural land and is drawing people to it,” says Holmes.

A better definition of agritourism, says Holmes, would help draw a cleaner line between working farms making supplemental income and other types of businesses trying to use a farmscape as their setting. It has to address both the tourism aspect and the direct tie to working agriculture.

“The cleanest way to do this would be to start from the beginning,” says Holmes, to define what counts as acceptable agritourism and what should not take place on agricultural land. From there, the law can clarify the process of how to permit acceptable activities. “I don’t think you can ever get a list that’s all-encompassing, but we can do a lot better than what we’ve done now.”

Defining agritourism

Holmes isn’t the only one who has identified the need for a more concrete definition of agritourism. Suzi Spahr, executive director for NAFDMA, an organization that unites agritourism operators, says there’s significant diversity in what agritourism is. 

“You will have many local governments or state government officials who will think that they know what a particular farm will do and then will want to make regulations based on that style,” says Spahr. “But you’ll have a variety of different agritourism operations, and so a one-size-fits-all all very frequently does not fit the industry to its best.”

NAFDMA has created its own definition of agritourism: “Agritourism is an agricultural enterprise attracting visitors to a farm or ranch to experience a connection with agriculture production and/or processing through entertainment, education, and/or the purchase of farm products.”

“We are starting to use that as sort of the basis by which we ensure that the focus remains on agriculture as the main guiding force, the main purpose behind what’s occurring,” says Spahr. 

Sheep at Leaping Lamb Farm. (Photography by Nathan Fussell)

Scottie Jones of Leaping Lamb Farm in Alsea, Oregon practices a type of agritourism where guests can come stay on her farm. Jones found that having an overnight rental on her farm greatly increased the viability of her business. 

“It’s horrible to say this, but, you know, it takes the agritourism for me to be able to be a successful farmer,” she says.

She keeps the farm at the center of the farm stays—she loves the questions from guests that she gets to answer—what does a potato look like in the ground? What is a fertilized egg? Jones says it’s an opportunity for connection.

“We sell lamb—that’s our prime agricultural product that we sell,” says Jones. “But by adding the farm stay, immediately, we were starting to be able to pay for the tractor to break down, and we weren’t using our retirement to be farmers. So, I was wholly invested in what this could do for us; also what it could do for the people that came to visit.”

Jones is also the chair for North America at the Global Agritourism Network and the owner/operator of Farmstay, a network of small overnight rentals on farms across the country. It offers support and resources for farmers looking to diversify their business this way. Jones has also seen some of the abuses of this pathway—hotels or developers trying to create luxury agricultural stays on farmland.

The farm stay at Leaping Lamb Farm. (Photography by Leaping Lamb Farm)

“Farmstay is about working farms and ranches that offer lodging,” says Jones. “So, it’s about going onto a real farm. It’s not a fake farm, it’s not a beautiful piece of property; it’s a working farm.”

She sees these “fake farm” businesses as a detriment to trying to figure out how to proceed with legislation making agritourism easier on actual farms.

“I do understand the fear there,” says Jones. “I just need our regulators to know that there’s the rest of us. There’s the rest of us out there, just really trying to make a dollar and really wanting to make that connection and really wanting to provide a place for people to come to the country and learn something.”

***

Interested in figuring out if agritourism is right for your farm? Audrey Comerford co-teaches this online on-demand course for producers in Oregon. The OSU Extension Agricultural Tourism website can be found here, and you can sign up for its quarterly newsletter here. The Vermont Tourism Research Center has an extensive catalog of resources. Farmstay helps farmers looking to host guests figure out how to get started. And NAFDMA is a central resource hub for North American agritourism enterprises.

Want to learn more about land protections? Read more on the 1000 Friends of Oregon website. Here, you can learn more about Oregon’s land use planning system, read impact reports and brief yourself on important bills in Oregon’s 2024 legislative session.

The post The Business Behind the Farm Visit appeared first on Modern Farmer.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Climate Change Resource Center recognizes agroforestry, the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into agricultural practices, as a promising option to weave productivity and profitability into sustainable and resilient farming systems. Over the past decade, USDA initiatives have created multiple partnerships among nonprofits and universities throughout the country, including SI in the Upper Midwest, University of Missouri in the Lower Midwest, Propagate in the Northeast and Tuskegee University in the Southeast, to meet a growing interest in agroforestry.

Transitioning from traditional agricultural methods to agroforestry often requires a shift in mindset and education. Building out an agroforestry demonstration farm network offers more hands-on educational opportunities and tours for farmers and growers to see what agroforestry looks like, how trees fit into farming landscapes, why they enhance conservation and how they can be economically viable.

An aerial view of the silvopastures at Fiddle Creek Dairy in Lancaster County, PA. (Photo courtesy Savanna Institute)

The SI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in Spring Green, Wis. and Champaign, Ill. It was founded in 2013 in the Champaign-Urbana area by a group of researchers, students and farmers that were interested in exploring how perennial agriculture and agroforestry could benefit Midwestern farmlands.

The organization focuses on Illinois and Wisconsin but also does support work in Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan and Indiana. Its technical service program pairs farmers one-on-one with an agroforestry expert to help plan and design plantings.

[RELATED: On the Ground with the Midwest Farmers Going All-In On Agroforestry]

The SI focuses on agroforestry practices supported by the USDA. Those include alley cropping, which involves integrating trees or shrubs within annual agricultural or horticultural crops; silvopasture, in which trees are integrated into livestock production for pasture and animal health; and forest farming, which is the cultivation of crops such as mushrooms, medicinal plants or maple syrup under a forest canopy.

In addition, USDA-supported agroforestry practices include efforts to mitigate soil erosion and protect waterways. Riparian forest techniques place trees on the edges of waterways and cropland to protect waterways and prevent erosion. Windbreaks involve planting trees along edges of fields to keep soil in place, enhance crop production and protect motorists on adjacent roadways from snowdrifts and fierce winds.

Demonstrating what works

For many farmers, seeing is believing. That’s one of the reasons why Adams is enthusiastic about SI’s new statewide agroforestry demonstration farm network that will launch in Wisconsin this spring. On the demonstration sites, farmers can see examples of successful integration of trees on farms. 

The effort is through an ongoing partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a branch of the USDA. The NRCS will invest $1.4 million toward agroforestry demonstration and educational opportunities across Wisconsin, with a goal of increasing the number of landowners planting trees and other perennials on their farmland. The new agroforestry demonstration sites in Wisconsin are the third project in which SI has partnered with the NRCS. Previous projects include technical assistance programs for farmers and training NRCS staff to offer in-house agroforestry service providers.

Wisconsin’s demonstration sites program will serve three main objectives: highlighting farmers that are adopting agroforestry, allowing individuals and other farmers to engage in educational opportunities; providing peer-to-peer thesis for education and support of farmers doing agroforestry; and offering opportunity for these farms to be part of a research network.

Kaitie Adams is director of demonstration and on-farm education for the Savanna Institute. (Photo courtesy Savanna Institute)

Adams says SI has already received several inquiries from farmers interested in participating in the program. Those include multi-generation family farms or beginning farmers that are adopting agroforestry or farmers transitioning from annual production to perennial production.

“Wisconsin producers have always been innovative and open to exploring ways to diversify their agriculture systems, provide their products to new markets and be good stewards of the land,” says Josh Odekirk, acting state conservationist for the Wisconsin NRCS. “Agroforestry is a sustainable land management approach that can be integrated into existing traditional crop and livestock systems. Savanna Institute is an ideal partner to help implement this work.”

Odekirk adds that Wisconsin NRCS has new funding through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to implement climate-smart conservation practices that benefit conservation and a producer’s bottom line. “Agroforestry conservation practices are eligible for standard Farm Bill funding as well as IRA funding in both the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and Conservation Stewardship Program.”

For the fiscal year 2024, Odekirk says Wisconsin received more than $41 million in IRA funding over and above their standard Farm Bill funding.

Removing barriers to an original form of agriculture

Adams calls agroforestry one of the original forms of agriculture that’s been utilized around the world. The types of trees and shrubs integrated into agroforestry depend on the type of farm, its crops and its needs.

Savanna Institute and the NRCS focuses on trees and perennial crops that are native or native-adjacent to the area. Windbreaks might integrate native conifers and evergreens, along with hardwoods such as hazelnut, chestnuts, berry fruits and shrub fruit.

Due to Wisconsin’s proud history of dairy production, silvopasture is becoming a common agroforestry practice used in the state, says Adams, and Wisconsin’s rich abundance of woodlands also lends to forest farming.

Silvopasture integrates trees into livestock production for pasture and animal health. (Photo courtesy Savanna Institute)

The new agroforestry demonstration farm network in Wisconsin will help to remove barriers to implementing agroforestry practices, says Adams. Shifting from annual crops to perennial crop production—particularly with trees, which often outlive the person that plants them—requires a shift in mindset and skillset.

“The cost of planting 500 trees is very different [from] the cost of 500 annual plants. But the great thing about perennials is that you make that big investment once, and then it pays off over time, rather than having to do the same costs year after year,” says Adams.

Partnering with NRCS gives farmers access to programs that can help cost-share and provide technical assistance to get trees in the ground. Adams notes they also pay farmers for offering education, research and outreach.

Blooming ecological success

Maggie Taylor of Delight Flower Farm, a commercial cut-flower farm in Champaign, Ill., has always been ecologically minded. As her business grew from a small plot in a backyard garden to the five-acre farm she purchased in 2019, Taylor tapped into USDA cost-share contracts that reward conservation practices. 

Owning her own property opened possibilities of investing in more perennial plants and permanent infrastructure to grow the business. Through Adams, Taylor had worked with SI to create a plan for integrating trees and shrubs on her property. “I had primarily done cut flowers as annual crops or grew in a greenhouse, so I didn’t have a lot of experience or knowledge of perennials. Savanna Institute was a great resource for me.”

Maggie Taylor shows perennial agriculture methods to curious gatherers. (Photos courtesy of Maggie Taylor)

Taylor uses alley cropping, through which she mixes perennial crops such as holly with her annuals. She harvests the holly during winter to sell as holiday greenery. She also plants coralberry, red osier dogwood and elderberry. These plantings help sequester carbon, protect the soil’s ecosystem and create habitat for birds, insects and small wildlife.

Taylor also installed windbreaks, planting two rows of white pine, interplanted with red cedar, blue spruce and Colorado spruce. An interior row of the property consists of witch hazel and coralberry. These lower shrubs provide wildlife habitat, along with sellable products such as holly and berries.

“Twenty years ago, there was a buzz about people replacing standard American lawns with raised beds to reduce environmental impacts of lawn chemicals,” says Taylor. “Agroforestry is a level above that conversation with the same intentionality, planting trees for the benefit of the property owner, the environment and the ecosystem as a whole.”

Learn more about agroforestry

Want to expand your knowledge of agroforestry? Savanna Institute’s online course series includes topics such as Agroforestry Foundations, Social Justice and Agroforestry, Perennial Crops and Practices in Agroforestry, Managing Agroforestry Systems in a Changing Climate,and Land Access and Finances in Agroforestry. Some classes are free, while others are $40.

Savanna Institute’s website also includes downloadable publications, including its book Perennial Pathways: Planting Tree Crops. Its apprenticeship program pairs people in the Midwest interested in agroforestry to work with mentors to gain hands-on experience. The organization also hosts a yearly perennial farm gathering, workshops, events and the podcast Perennial AF.

Have a question about planting trees? Ask your question in the comments—we’ll have an expert agroforester from the Savanna Institute answer reader questions in a future story.

The post Agroforestry Deepens Roots with New Demonstration Farm Network appeared first on Modern Farmer.

“It’s really fun when schools buy those apples and the kids get to learn about it,” says Kate Wheeler, Farm to Fork specialist for the Utah State Board of Education.

Elliott apples end up in state school lunches thanks to farm-to-school programs, initiatives that have expanded in the last few decades as a way to support children’s nutrition and regional agriculture. And it’s not just in Utah. With schools back in session, many school districts will be putting food from local farms on kids’ lunch trays. Farm-to-school programs can manifest in many different ways, but one pathway that has been increasingly adopted in recent years is Local Food Purchasing Incentives (LFPIs).

LFPIs are state-led programs allowing schools or early care programs to receive financial reimbursement for buying food from local producers. Buying local can be cost-prohibitive, so these types of programs are on the rise after calls for institutional support through state policy. Between 2001 and 2019, eight states and Washington, D.C. established programs across the country. Since the onset of the pandemic, seven additional states have adopted LFPI programs. These initiatives aim to increase local food purchasing for school meals, while providing children with nutritious food, strengthening local economies and helping school districts overcome cost barriers to local food.

No two of these programs are identical. But a question they all have to answer is what does “local” food mean, anyway?

Bespoke programs for states

In New York, School Food Authorities (nonprofits in charge of cafeterias) that spend 30 percent of their lunch budget on in-state food get an extra $0.19 cents back for every reimbursable lunch. Maine’s Local Foods Fund reimburses school districts with a dollar for every $3 spent on select local food, with a $5,000 cap for the school year—$5,500 if schools participate in a local foods training. Maine’s program began in 2001, but it received bolstered funding in 2019 and has been expanding and adjusting since then. 

Some farm-to-school programs include farm education for students. (Photo: Shutterstock)

“It’s a constant evolution,” Robin Kerber, implementation manager for Full Plates Full Potential, an organization addressing food insecurity for children in Maine, said in a recent webinar hosted by the National Farm to School Network and Michigan State University’s Center for Regional Food Systems. “Every year, we’re reassessing what’s working, what’s not working, because we want it to work for everybody.”

This growing tide of LFPIs includes overlaps with other farm-to-school initiatives. One program distributes USDA funds to states to buy local food for schools. Additionally, some states are embracing a universal school meal model, wherein all kids eat for free at school, regardless of family income. Some of these include incentives for local food purchasing. This fall, students in Minnesota are experiencing the results of a universal meal policy for the first time.

“If there’s anything I can share, it’s that each incentive program is uniquely designed and administered,” says Cassandra Bull, policy consultant and host of the webinar series.

What is “local” food?

In practice, “local” is hard to define. Utah, for example, considers local to be anything Utah-grown. Wheeler says this approach isn’t without nuance. For example, schools can be reimbursed for Utah-made sour cream and cheese, but in the processing plants, milk from across state lines gets blended together to make these products. Utah counts these products as local as long as the product is made with 50 percent Utah-sourced milk. 

“The other piece that we’ve struggled with a little bit is, is local a value in and of itself?” says Wheeler. “Or do we want to be promoting specific types of values-based procurements where we’re looking at how the food is produced and how it’s grown and worker treatment and all of those other values that sometimes we associate with “local” but aren’t necessarily inherently part of just buying something that’s close to you.” 

But while big western states can equate “local” with “in-state,” things get trickier in the smaller states. New Hampshire is currently in the process of trying to pass a bill to support an LFPI. But only seven percent of New Hampshire is agricultural land, and many of the farms that it does have are dedicated to growing trees or hay. 

Three children having lunch. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Eight of New Hampshire’s 10 counties border other states or Canada, and Stacey Purslow, program coordinator for the New Hampshire Farm to School Program within the University of New Hampshire Sustainability Institute, says three of their school districts have students that live in one state and go to school in another. What this means is that the definition of “local” is going to be different than “from New Hampshire.”

“We don’t grow that much here, and we have cross-state school districts,” says Purslow. “So, we wanted to support New England agriculture as well.”

Conor Floyd, grant programs manager for Child Nutrition Programs in the Vermont Agency of Education, acknowledges that defining local food is not cut and dry.

“One really thorny issue for us in our process was, what counts as local?” says Floyd. Vermont uses a definition created by the state legislature. Beyond having a succinct definition, there’s also the matter of enforcement. “The question for me was, who’s checking to make sure that this is local or not?”

Tracking local purchases

In order to be compensated, schools need to keep track of local purchases. This can be tedious, but it can provide an accurate picture of local procurement in the state and show farmers what schools are buying.

In Utah, schools have a tracking spreadsheet to use throughout the year. If they don’t keep track along the way, it can result in confusion and difficulty when it comes time to submit, says Wheeler.

“Some of our folks who are buying local are also not submitting for reimbursement because they feel like it’s too much work,” says Wheeler.

Harvest New York, an organization that helps grow the farm and food economy in New York state, created a database to help School Food Authorities track down qualifying products and get the paperwork they need.

“We need to make sure that the products are actually from New York, but the paperwork can’t be so onerous that our school food authorities don’t want to participate in it,” says Cheryl Bilinksi, local food systems specialist and Farm to School lead at Harvest New York.

Cows in a field in Utah. (Photo: Shutterstock)

For Wheeler, the success stories keep her going. New this year, Utah have established cooperative contracts with seven ranchers across the state. Every school in the state can order and be reimbursed funds for local beef or bison.

“The ranchers are so excited, and the schools are so excited,” says Wheeler. “Just seeing something work makes you realize it can continue to work, and that’s definitely one of the things that keeps you going.”

The post States Want to Put More Local Food on School Lunch Trays. What Does That Mean, Exactly? appeared first on Modern Farmer.

The cattle, which were artificially inseminated by students in the spring, will eventually be harvested at a USDA plant and incorporated into the fine dining menu at the college’s student-run campus restaurant, Capstone Kitchen. 

Those cows are just one part of the closed-loop system the college aims to highlight in its new farm-to-fork program that is rolling out this school year. “The agriculture students will be growing and raising specialty crops and animals for us, and culinary students will get the chance to get their hands in the dirt to learn what it takes to grow a crop,” says chef-instructor and Top Chef alum Robin Leventhal. “It’s truly full circle.”

Walla Walla’s hands-on coursework is bringing together agriculture and culinary students as part of a nascent movement among community colleges that are increasingly bringing food production into curricula in new and innovative ways.

Walla Walla Community College’s program may be one of the most extensive culinary-agriculture curriculums, but there are others. Bakersfield College boasts an Edible Gardens Catalog program, Kalamazoo Community College offers Sustainable Food Systems Competencies coursework and Greenfield Community College’s Farm and Food Systems covers mushroom foraging and cultivation, permaculture design, beekeeping, food preservation and more.

The federal government is trying to help spur growth in these types of programs, too. As part of its efforts to foster a new crop of farmers, earlier this year, the USDA announced it would be investing $262.5 million in grants to higher education programs that serve underrepresented student populations as part of an inaugural program to build and sustain the next generation of the food and agriculture workforce.

Bergen Community College was one of the grant recipients, receiving a $4.5-million grant for its soon-to-come vertical farming, hydroponics and plant-based culinary arts programs. The grant, which will provide funding through June 2028, will help the college to enhance its current culinary, horticulture and science curriculum with new classwork that will explore sustainable food production and safety practices, waste management and agribusiness. “We already have horticulture and culinary programs, but this agriculture is new,” says PJ Ricatto, Ph.D., who will direct the new project. “As a suburban community college, we just ignored food production in our educational programs—and that’s going to change.” 

The school ran an outdoor hydroponics farm this summer to help work out logistics on the soon-to-be-built indoor vertical farm. The next step is to get a greenhouse going in the fall and eventually scale up into a series of shipping containers. Over time, the administrators hope to expand with aquaculture, waste management, raised-bed gardening and more. Local vertical farmer Greens Do Good, which already offers training and employment for neurodiverse individuals, will be a close collaborator in the project. The company will help support the operation of the hydroponic facility, as well as provide learning and internship opportunities and potential employment paths for neurodiverse project participants and others.

Walla Walla’s hands-on coursework is bringing together agriculture and culinary students. (Photo courtesy of WWCC)

These ties to local industry and economic needs are what make these sorts of programs so impactful. “The beauty of community college in the United States is it’s there to serve the community,” says Dr. Martha M. Parham, senior vice president of public relations for the American Association of Community Colleges. “They’re fueling the workforce pipeline in a lot of cases.”

“Colleges have to teach what’s trending, and the next generation is looking at what impact we have in this world and how we can support our community.”

While they differ in the students’ backgrounds and types of communities they serve, these new agricultural programs have quite a bit in common.

Like Walla Walla, the produce grown in Bergen Community College’s hydroponic learning lab facilities will also be used in the Culinary Arts program’s student-run cafeteria. Whatever is not used in that restaurant may end up being sold at a campus farm stand or donated to the school’s food pantry. Walla Walla Community College hopes to offer surplus agricultural products at its food pantry, too.

Studies have found that more than one-third of college students experience food insecurity at some point during their enrollment.

But where Bergen Community College aims to foster new farmers in a suburban-urban environment through vertical farms and hydroponics, Walla Walla’s program will expand upon an existing agroecology curriculum geared toward its rural students, many of whom may be seeking to bring their education back to family farms or other local agriculture. “Most of the people in our ag program are coming from an agrarian background but are trying to be innovative with new ways to approach farming,” says Leventhal. 

Red Angus cows help students learn about agroecology at Walla Walla Community College. (Photo courtesy of WWCC)

The school, which is located in Washington State’s premier wine region, boasts one of the few agroecology-focused bachelor’s of applied science (BAS) degrees in the country. Several classes discuss using ecology principles to inhibit or get rid of weeds, for example. This coursework examines methods to use in various farming systems, including the crops or animals being reared, acreage, infrastructure, equipment and other factors that will impact a farm’s ability to reduce input costs while maintaining profitable production per acre. So, bringing in the cows (which are owned by a school instructor) to see what weeds they prefer to eat, and when, is an ideal demonstration for students who are trying to understand how these sorts of regenerative principles translate on an actual farm. “Agroecology incorporates the whole food systems and dynamics of the community,” says Alan Raeder, Ph.D., director of the Agriculture Science program. As part of that study, he says, “We are trying to produce and grow plants and animals that we need, and want to harvest them as close by as we can.”

While those bovines have been helping to restore the soil on their temporary pasture, the 18 raised beds that were planted last year and ⅛-acre demonstration field have all been prepared for the students who will be starting the program in September. About 100 pounds of potatoes have been harvested, and the already-planted tomatoes, chiles, herbs, green beans and cabbage will all be ready for students to work with when classes begin. 

Many of the seeds were picked out last year, but the goal of the program is for both culinary and agriculture students to work with professors to not only figure out what will grow best and have the highest yields in the environment but what will impress customers in the restaurant. For upcoming semesters, that will likely include bright winter vegetables such as watermelon radishes, Chioggia beets, golden beets and other colorful, cold-hardy crops. “Finding the right fit is part of the trial and error of this, which is educational,” says Leventhal. 

Selecting animals to raise and harvest will be a big part of the curriculum, too, but it is likely a bit farther out as the program gets better established. The program mimics the relationships between chefs and local farmers, so the students can work together in brainstorming what foods to cultivate for the restaurant and bistro—a real-world skill that Walla Walla Community College culinary and agriculture students are eager to learn. “Students drive curriculum,” says Leventhal. “Colleges have to teach what’s trending, and the next generation is looking at what impact we have in this world and how we can support our community—that’s such an important conversation that’s happening right now.”

The post Food Systems 101: How Community Colleges Are Helping Students Connect Farm to Fork appeared first on Modern Farmer.

Law enforcement was hot on the trail of a 4-H goat.

Cedar, as his nine-year-old owner named the young Boer, had been whisked from the Shasta District Fairgrounds by the family to a distant farm after efforts to withdraw him from the auction were denied, prompting fair officials to send sheriffs to seize the alleged stolen property.

The girl and her mother had signed a contract with the fair, knowing the goat would be sold for its meat. It was the project she’d chosen in her 4-H club, a local branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s nationwide youth development program. Still, she wept at the goat’s side when the bidding was over, asking that he not be killed. But the youth livestock rules governing these “terminal sales” defined only one off-ramp: the slaughterhouse.

“It’s really hard to get market animals off fairgrounds property once showing begins,” says Marji Beach, development director at Animal Place, a sanctuary in Grass Valley, Calif. where, every fair season, the requests roll in from children in 4-H and FFA (Future Farmers of America) who want to spare their pigs, cattle, goats and sheep.

A growing number are urban students who have nowhere to take their animal, even if allowed the option.

“On average, we receive around 40 requests a year,” says Beach, most involving market pigs. This fair season, it’s already reached capacity with the larger pigs. “Unfortunately, we can only say yes when we have space.”

The many projects of 4-H

4-Hers don’t have to choose a meat animal project. Fair participation isn’t even required. The nonprofit program, administered by state land-grant universities, offers more than 100 different “learn by doing” projects, with members enrolling in at least one each year.

Living on a farm is optional. Thousands of city slickers lease animals or raise creatures such as mice. On the non-meat menu is everything from tree planting, dance and public speaking to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education). Animal projects include breeding, fiber, horse showmanship and more. 

But 4-H, which is funded by the USDA, state and local governments, as well as corporate donors, is best known for its youth livestock program. 

Market-animal projects produce significant, positive effects on 4-H enrollment, according to an analysis by the University of California Cooperative Extension.

The Shasta County fair website puts it this way: “The Junior Livestock Auction is the backbone to the Shasta District Fair as members from the superior Agriculture District 4-H and Future Farmers of America enter and show the animals.”

The top bidder receives meat from the animal, with the proceeds going to the child exhibitor and a small amount to the fair. More than 500 animals sold at the Shasta Fair in 2022 were then loaded onto trucks and hauled away for processing—as Cedar was slated to be. 

4-H offers more than 100 different “learn by doing” projects. (Photo: Derek Pell)

At this point, the project is over. 4-Hers, depending on how well their club prepared them, have to imagine what happens next.

Adults might consider it fortunate that children don’t have to witness their animals’ slaughter or learn about the frequency of botched deaths, equipment malfunctions and violations of the USDA Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. According to a study by sociologists Leslie Irvine and Colter Ellis at the University of Colorado, 4-Hers “fully recognize this inevitable feature of the livestock project.”

Nevertheless, some students are horrified when they actually reach that goal on auction day.

Almost pets

A federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the family in Shasta County makes an unusual claim alongside its focus on the actions of officials. One argument of attorneys Ryan Gordon and Vanessa Shakib, co-founders of nonprofit Advancing Law for Animals, is that Cedar was seized because his owner “E.L.” expressed a non-agricultural view of him.

E.L. didn’t see “Cedes,” as she called him, as meat.

The 9-year-old had just reached the age allowed by state 4-H rules to pursue a large livestock project. It’s also an age far from decision-making maturity. Studies show cognitive capacity doesn’t reach adult levels until around age 16, and psychosocial maturity continues beyond 18. 

Irvine and Colter, the sociology researchers, wanted to explore the so-called caring-killing paradox. Plenty of research has focused on the bonds between children and pets—but not when it comes to a living, bleating 4-H project. “Reproducing Dominion,” their 2010 paper, examines how children learn the belief that certain animals are created for human use, which the authors say is “the most important lesson conveyed in 4-H livestock programs.” 

That lesson was no match for the three months E.L. spent raising an adorable baby goat, teaching him to walk on a leash and trust humans, to where he began rushing to greet her.

The researchers interviewed 4-Hers to study the emotional work learned from adult mentors and peers that teaches them to cope with conflicting feelings about their animals. On the path to becoming producers, students leaned on strategies such as not naming their market animals and reminding themselves that auctions help pay for college.

A young Boer goat. (Photo: Shutterstock)

E.L., who was to receive almost $900 for her goat’s meat, just wanted Cedar back. That aligns with the study’s finding that auctions are harder for younger members aged 13 and under. Their empathy for their animals has all along been encouraged. Good care makes for good meat. 

The 4-H literature instructs students to touch animals often, which prepares them for showing, and to learn all about their preferences and personalities.

All the touching, brushing and mapping of favorite scratch-spots and quirks is similar to that with a pet. And it occurs within a culture increasingly aware of animal emotions compared to when 4-H began more than a century ago. 

The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act passed in 1958. Flash forward to 2015 when a Gallup poll found a third of Americans want animals to have the same rights as people. In a 2019 Gallup poll, nearly one in four were eating less meat. And, in 2023, the Supreme Court upheld California’s landmark farmed animal protection law. 

In 4-H literature, the organization that began with a desire to modernize farming claims its message of youth development doesn’t change, “but the methods that drive the program forward often need to change with the times.” 

Irvine says that these days it’s far less common for 4-Hers to be taking over the farm, needing to learn the realities of raising meat animals. In 2010, only 11 percent of 4-Hers lived on farms. So is the terminal auction essential?

“It does seem like it’s time for 4-H to change, both because of what we know about animals and because its members increasingly don’t come from agricultural backgrounds,” says Irvine. 

“The contracts should also allow kids to change their minds, especially the younger ones.” 

Rules are rules

It’s the fair that sets the auction rules, serving up contracts that 4-Hers and parents sign. Each county fair in California can make its own rules, so long as they don’t conflict with those of the state. 4-H has no oversight of fairs.

“County fairs and livestock auctions are learning experiences we prepare our members to participate in,” says Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty, Calif.’s Statewide 4-H director. The program’s volunteers and professionals work closely with youth in livestock projects, she says, helping them choose what best suits their goals—whether market, breeding or showmanship. 

“Please know this incident does not reflect the values of the University of California 4-H youth development program,” she says of the fiasco over Cedar. 

A 4-H student tends to their goat at the 2023 Shasta Fair. (Photo: Derek Pell)

But strict rules for terminal sales are common around the country. The Shasta Fair’s rules allow for “no exceptions.” State rules prohibit live animal pick-up by buyers, except by the transportation provided by the fair to the slaughterhouse. How enforceable those rules are is now up for debate.

In January 2023, a Florida couple who won a pig they planned to rescue were told they could only have its meat. Why? The answers varied from state rules protecting animal enterprise to 4-Hers having raised the animals for the food chain.

Nor is Cedar’s case the first lawsuit ever filed after a student changed their mind.  

Five years ago, songwriter Diane Warren won a lamb for a boy at an auction in Santa Barbara County. The fair refused to let it go home alive. Warren hired Advancing Law for Animals, which helped free the lamb. 

The attorneys made an argument they are using again in the pending federal case, and it concerns a right minors can already exercise.

“This case preserves the legal status quo,” says Shakib. “Minors in California can disaffirm contracts, including contracts with 4-H.” 

Children can break contracts because the law has long considered them incapable of fully understanding what they’ve signed. 

Despite E.L.’s painful experience, she still wants to pursue animal husbandry education. If the attorneys prevail, local officials will acknowledge her right to opt out of any 4-H livestock auction she enters. While the state’s rules have seen revisions for 2023, including the recommendation of a pre-auction “intent to sell” list for children and parents to sign and clearer definitions of terminal and non-terminal auctions, there’s no mention of any such option.

In some states, there’s no need for it.

North Dakota fairs no longer hold kill auctions. In Minnesota, due to changing market demands and trends in consumer purchasing, there’s been a shift to premium auctions where animals are sold but typically go home with the student, who still receives most of the proceeds.

“I have been working with MN 4-H for a number of years and during that time I do not know of any required terminal shows,” Sharon Davis, University of Minnesota 4-H Extension director of animal science, said in an email. “4-H shows in Minnesota are non-terminal, allowing for youth to continue to learn and grow with their projects.”

The officials who had Cedar plucked from sanctuary and returned him to the fairgrounds to be slaughtered claimed to be bound by rules. Perhaps greater awareness of these other options, along with the wave of support for E.L.’s “non-agricultural” view of Cedar, will bring more choice to the rules around kill auctions.

The post 4-H Goat Controversy Raises Questions About Kids and Terminal Livestock Sales appeared first on Modern Farmer.

It’s one of the reasons he signed on to be a mentor farm in the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming’s newly expanded farm apprentice program.

Across the country, this vital and demanding profession is approaching a watershed moment. According to the USDA, the average age of farmers has risen to 57.5 years. Climate change poses threats to conventional methods of farming. Land access is limited by availability and cost.

Glynwood, in Cold Spring, NY, part of the Hudson Valley, is working to confront these considerable challenges through a farm apprentice program geared at training young farmers for a more sustainable and inclusive farming future. Since 1997, the organization has built a reputation of ensuring that the Hudson Valley is a region defined by food, where farming thrives. Its apprentice program, begun in 2008, has a successful track record: Two-thirds of alumni are still farming and more than 80 percent are working in the broader food system, including food justice, sovereignty, education or policy.

Glynwood has recently expanded its program to gear it towards marginalized groups that want to enter the farming and ag space, which has traditionally been dominated by cis white men. It’s one of the few programs nationwide that offer a robust, formal curriculum for new entry farmers. 

Glynwood president Kathleen Finlay says that ag schools, multi-generational farms and other programs aren’t meeting the needs of farmer training at this moment. “One of the biggest barriers or the most challenging obstacles is that there’s a dearth of opportunities for farmers to learn to farm in a way that stewards the land, is resilient to the climate crisis [and] is deeply rooted in food justice and food sovereignty,” she says, attributing some of the hurdles affecting first-generation farmers to systemic oppression.

Barriers to entry

Glynwood’s farm apprentice program evolved from informal sessions spearheaded by Dave Llewellyn, director of farmer training since 2008 and a former farm apprentice himself. As the program matured, Llewellyn noticed fewer entry-level opportunities, a result, he says, of the 2019 minimum wage requirement in New York, which prompted many farms to abandon internships or apprenticeships as a means to an end, hiring work crews instead. “We saw nonprofits as an important player in this to make sure that the opportunities continue to exist,” he says. “That’s when we started talking to some partners about this idea of bringing the education component to the table, providing funds to support that work.”  

As a member of several agricultural networks in the Hudson Valley and around the country that share knowledge and best practices, Llewellyn often acts as a connector. He recognized the need for a co-ordinated, cross-farm, regional apprenticeship program and that the area’s many small farms are uniquely positioned to accommodate one. To help shape the program and its expansion, he commissioned a report examining training programs around the country, such as Rogue Farm Corps in Oregon and Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA).

The resulting 64-page report confirmed a gap between what was expected and the actual apprentice experience and highlighted the barriers to entry for members of marginalized groups. It’s peppered with candid comments from former apprentices, program managers and mentors. 

A queer and trans-identified apprentice addressing the lack of diversity in farming asked, “But are these programs actually a viable, safe space for these kinds of people to go?” Mentors expressed aspirations and concerns, wanting tools to best support apprentices who encountered racism and to pay a living wage. “I don’t know how a farm supports that,” said one bluntly. Another asked, “How do you actually teach while getting so much stuff done?”

In-class learning at Glynwood supplements hands-on field work at off-site apprenticeships. (Photo courtesy of Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming.)

Learning and outreach

The apprentice program includes in-field work, 60 hours of classroom time covering topics such as pest management, tractor safety, holistic visioning of goals, food sovereignty (the right of people to be able to produce and/or procure healthy and culturally appropriate food in a sustainable manner) and compassionate communications training. Apprentices receive a stipend of minimum wage or above, a healthcare reimbursement account, free and discounted vegetables and meat from Glynwood, and renumeration for transportation to the weekly classroom sessions, as well as accruing vacation and sick days. Some housing is available. Funding for the pilot year in 2022 came from individual donors; the program is currently supported by a three-year grant from the USDA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program that Glynwood was awarded last summer.

This initiative fits naturally into Glynwood’s work and ethos of inclusivity.

The organization strives to support participants from a diverse range of backgrounds in its programs. As part of the expansion, it included past and present program participants in program refinement and design. To conduct intentional recruiting, Glynwood has been building relationships with local farms by participating in volunteer workdays and partnering with organizations such as GrowNYC, with which it created a farmer training initiative called Pathways to Farming.

Mentoring and support

So as not to dilute the experience for the five apprentices onsite at Glynwood, Llewellyn and his team created a decentralized model, partnering with five farms to host apprentices and act as mentors. Each of the farms—Four Corners Community Farm, Maple View Farm, Ecological Citizen’s Project, Phillies Bridge Farm Project, Choy Division Farm and Rise & Root Farm—have participated in Glynwood programs, so a trust and comfort level are already established.

The expansion was piloted with 15 apprentices, 10 off-site. Seventeen are participating this year, which runs approximately from March to November. “It’s a very diverse group that has been intentionally cultivated here at Glynwood,” says current apprentice Sebastian Jindra-Cotilla, “bringing in various different values and trying to integrate them into one productive harmonious agricultural experience.” That’s one of the aspects that drew the first-generation Latino-American to the program, along with its generous compensation package and educational component. He says he felt “exploited by my employers for my labor” at a previous experience where learning was not prioritized.

Classroom topics include best practices in planting and disease and pest management. (Photo courtesy of Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming.)

Each mentor farm receives a $3,000 stipend for its commitment and as compensation for the apprentice’s classroom time. Mentors are required to attend an orientation, undergo anti-racist and team-building training, participate in frequent, specific check-ins with the apprentice and Glynwood team during the season and provide program feedback. They have access to online repositories of lessons developed by Glynwood and can network with other mentors.

Rose welcomes the help, money and opportunity to share knowledge as a mentor. He says designing a curriculum that is not just “grunt work” can be a burden for the farmer, so he’s grateful Glynwood has the expertise and ability to do so. “Why should each farm mentor reinvent the wheel?” he asks, noting that apprentices receive a richer experience and a standardized and wider breadth of knowledge. 

Impact beyond the farm

Former Glynwood apprentice Ellie Brown, who served as a mentor last year, was grateful for the housing provided when she was an apprentice. “Paying people and housing them are two big things people don’t have to figure out on their own,” she says. Paying minimum wage, says Llewellyn, does not make the opportunity equitable or accessible to all, but they ensure people are “reasonably compensated” by tracking hours, which is not common practice in apprenticeships.

Including social justice, food justice and inclusivity aspects adds more meaning to the program, says Brown, who is starting a farm this season, particularly because farmers already have a lot on their plate. “I think that this farming community in the Hudson Valley, a lot because of Glynwood, is at the forefront of being open and allowing everybody to have their voice no matter who they are. That’s a huge thing.”

Sharing meals after class fosters connection between the apprentices and Glynwood staff. (Photo courtesy of Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming.)

Jindra-Cotilla appreciates the opportunity to experiment in an accepting space, very different from previous farm experiences. “It goes to prove that the cultural aspect of agriculture is really, really important. We’re doing more than just growing food. That sort of anchors our activities; but at the end of the day, what we’re trying to do is create culture, to foster positive ways of being in relationship to one another, to the land. That means obviously including marginalized voices.” 

Rose agrees. When apprentices are taken for granted, “that excludes a lot of people,” he says, and “misses a lot of potential for growth of these future leaders, for the institutions themselves, for making a more inclusive, equitable society.”

The post Prospective Farmers Face Big Barriers to Entry. This Apprentice Program Wants to Set a New Standard appeared first on Modern Farmer.

The program at Organic Farm School (OFS) on Whidbey Island, Washington embraces the notion that we all eat but our food system becomes more broken every year. A rising global population, coupled with volatile commodity prices, high operating costs and the unpredictability of the weather, make farming a tenuous enterprise. In response, OFS readies future farmers to face the challenges that come with that broken system. 

Photography by Judy Feldman.

The secluded Maxwellton Valley location came to the school in a moment of serendipity. On the eve of closing in 2015, Ron and Eva Sher (local philanthropists and owners of several Seattle retail businesses) dedicated a no-fee lease of 10 acres on their 350-acre property for the school’s permanent home. 

Students connect with the surrounding community and explore diverse revenue streams through farmers markets, local restaurants, co-ops, grocery stores and a CSA farmstand. They experience all aspects of a working farm on those 10 acres, from decision-making to the minutiae of daily labor through seven-week rotations. They grow 45 different crops including basics such as lettuces, radishes and squash, and more specialty produce such as kohlrabi, beets and sprouting broccoli to sell. They also raise pastured poultry, along with the occasional sheep and pigs. All the revenue produced goes back into the training program to keep tuition affordable and allow students to see the options available when they have their own farm.

The program includes classroom work, field visits, small group work and individual sessions. The goal is to show students the varied tasks of farming as a profession and open up the floor to questions. “I’ve worked on farms previously where you hit the ground running and there’s no time for you to pick your head up,” says Anna Magnuson, assistant farm manager. At OFS, the teaching philosophy is to make space for questions that might come up after students graduate.

Assistant Farm Manager, Anna Magnuson, talks a new student through the basics of using a tractor. Photography by Judy Feldman.

OFS strives to provide a realistic experience for new farmers. Niceties such as the large walk-in cooler with plenty of sorting bins and dedicated space for both propagation and production in high tunnels and caterpillar tunnels make farming easier, but not all the equipment is top of the line. The lay-flat irrigation rather than buried water lines, Costco tables and a farm-hacked washing machine turned salad spinner represent a version of what a farmer starting out would likely be able to afford. “You have to know plumbing, electrical, crop tending, accounting—a farmer does 15 other professions besides farming, and we want them to go into that with confidence,” says Jeff Markette, farm manager. To that end, students learn how to fix their own tools, because it’s unrealistic to expect someone just starting out to have the money for brand-new gear.

“I got exposure to many basic farming principles, like understanding how to work with different planting dates in a timezone and when certain things need to be started from seed,” says Savannah Reid, former student and Orchard Kitchen head farmer. “I learned how to calculate how much fertilizer [I needed] and how to write and build crop plans. Farming takes quite a bit of math and planning to make it all happen.” Reid now organizes and plans all the produce for Orchard Kitchen’s 3.5-acre farm, farm stand and food hub orders together with the owner and chef.

Taking idealism and rooting it in realism drives the program at OFS. In the weekly field visits, students interact with working farmers around the island, hearing their stories and gleaning advice on techniques and equipment. The supportive community is something Holton hadn’t found in other professions. Asking questions, introducing themselves, making connections and being known for their work are part of the fabric of the program he appreciates. 

For Holton, the emphasis on the farmer as an educated person who not only knows about plants but also stays current with publications and research about the changing world is important. “The stereotype of a farmer as an old, uneducated person driving a broken-down truck is not accurate. You’re constantly learning.” 

Photography by Judy Feldman.

Even though there’s always something to do on the farm, farming can be an isolating profession. According to the National Rural Health Association, the suicide rate among farmers outpaces that of the general population by 3.5%. Recognizing the gravity of this data, OFS schedules visits from mental health counselors who discuss self-care and suicide prevention, letting the farmers-in-training know there’s no shame in reaching out when they need help. “You hit walls and edges you didn’t know you had. Having somebody listen and then walk them through to the other side is a great template for when they are managing a farm on their own. They realize it’s OK to hit those walls. They can pause and talk it through with someone. Farming is not one day; it’s a lifetime,” says executive director Judy Feldman.

As a lifetime career, it can also be hard on the body. Physical therapists take students into the field to simulate routine activities—such as pulling a tarp—to demonstrate where your shoulder should be and how many times you should change your position so you’re not overworking your hips, back and knees. There’s also a focus on adapting the work as you age. But an aging body is a reality, and OFS helps young farmers see ways to still work the farm as they get older, by taking over less labor-intensive tasks such as seed growing.

Physical therapists show students how to move their bodies correctly in the field. Photography by Judy Feldman.

Each day on the farm comes with a to-do list with 50 steps. But before a farmer even gets to the field, things have changed and the plan must be amended. “I appreciate that [the instructors] let us fail. They let us get into it and not be afraid of mistakes,” says Holton. “One of the most important things is learning to not be hard on yourself when things don’t go right because things are always gonna go wrong.”

Farming is challenging. “In so many trades, you get thousands of tries to get it right, but in farming, you get one try per season,” says Feldman. “We’re preparing students for real life.” 

The post This Farm School’s Primary Crop is Students appeared first on Modern Farmer.