GRANDVILLE, Mich. — From small student-run organic farms, to large agribusiness training centers and entrepreneurial programs, farming plays a central role in many American higher ed institutions. To highlight this unique offering, we’ve surveyed over 50 schools to come up with a list of the best university farms in America. We realize that a university farm can mean a number of things, and so as not to compare apples and oranges (literally), we’ve taken the following criteria into account:
Ranking Criteria:
Farm Size
Integration with the Main Campus
Sustainability
Are courses taught at the farm?
Do students use the farm?
Integration with the community
1. Warren Wilson College
Warren Wilson College is a national liberal arts college structured around values perfectly manifested in the soil. To graduate, students must work through “the Triad” of Warren Wilson experience, including work, service, and academics. Warren Wilson is one of only seven federally-recognized work colleges in the nation, where the day-to-day
operations of the school are in-part completed by the students. Many students choose to work on the farm, which is located on 275 acres divided into 25 fields in the scenic Swannanoa Valley. Beef cattle and hogs make up a majority of the livestock, and are sold locally. Additionally, a CSA and farmer’s market provide produce from the farm
to the local community. A crew was established 14 years ago to grow medicinal herbs and make medicine from them. A bee crew and an heirloom apple orchard are also present on the farm. The farm strives to practice sustainable agriculture, and is “grass-based,” allowing steers to graze on a natural “salad bar” that translates into
healthier meat for humans.
Crops Grown: Mixed Crops, Livestock
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2. College of the Ozarks
The College of the Ozarks utilizes educational student labor through a number of agricultural work stations, including: beef farms, a farmer’s market, dairy farm, feed mill, hog farm, horticulture lab, orchard, garden, processing plant, and the agronomy station. The largest project includes a yearly workshop put on for FFA (the Future Farmer’s of America), in which an educational workshop is distributed to nearly 2,000 attending members. A number of student organizations supplement the agriculture-centered experience at College of the Ozarks, including the AG Ed Club, Ozark Fisheries & Wildlife Association, Horticulture Club, Collegiate Farm Bureau Aggie Club, and Delta Tau Alpha, a selective national agriculture honor society. An average of 80 students work at agriculture workstations throughout the year.
Crops Grown: Mixed Crops, Fruits, Livestock
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3. Deep Springs College
Deep Springs College is a liberal arts college located on an alfalfa farm and cattle-ranch in the California high desert. The school was founded with the three guiding notions of academics, labor, and self-governance, important values for the farm. The school only has 26 students, but provides full scholarships valued at over $50,000 per year for two years. After two years, many students continue to prestigious schools. Farm-based locations for the labor component of the program include the organic Deep Springs Garden, which includes a fruit orchard, greenhouse, chicken coop, and vegetable beds, the 300-head cattle ranch, and the 152 acres of alfalfa fields, used to feed the college’s cattle and livestock. Every seven weeks, students are assigned a labor position, including options like student cowboy and butcher.
Crops Grown: Mixed Crops, Fruits, Livestock
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4. Hampshire College
Hampshire College is a prestigious and experimental school established in 1965. During their time at Hampshire, student focus on portfolios rather than distribution requirements, and narrative evaluations take the place of grades. Though young, the school’s farming program is longer established than most, created in the late 1970’s by natural science faculty. The farm is over 100 acres, offers work study programs, independent study opportunities, and internship opportunities. Largely thanks to the campus farm, Hampshire College is well on their way to sourcing 100% of their food locally. The farm is also a CAS (community-supported agriculture) program, allowing locals to pick up produce weekly.
Crops Grown: Livestock, honey, syrup, dairy, hay
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5. Butte College
Butte College, a community college near Chico (CA), offers an 80-acre farm including an organic fruit orchard and vineyard. The institution has a long history of sustainable agriculture, offering training in sustainable agriculture, and establishing a portion of the farm as organic certified as far back as 1990. The College is also home to the first organic dairy west of the Mississippi. A number of student organizations including the Ag Ambassadors Club and the Symbiotic Solutions clubs augment the existing academic farm-based offerings. Community access to the farm is available, including (in the past) portions of the farm joining the Sierra Oro Farm Trail Passport Program, a local weekend where local vineyards and farming operations show off their wares to local hikers.
Crops Grown: Wine, Livestock, Mixed Crops
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6. College of the Atlantic
Beech Hill Farm at College of the Atlantic is a 73-acre farm located on a ridge of deep glacial till soils. Located on Mount Desert Island off the coast of Maine, the farm offers an insight-filled addition to the academic offerings at the College of the Atlantic, namely, the single major of the college: human ecology. A full range of MOFGA Certified organic vegetables are farmed, with 80% sold to local visitors through the on-site farm stand. The farm also produces honey, preserves, meat, eggs, dairy products, baked goods, fruits, and gourmet specialty foods.
Crops Grown: Fruits, Mixed Crops, Livestock
7. UC Santa Cruz
UC Santa Cruz is known for one of the nation’s premier farming apprenticeship programs. USSC’s farming experience centers around 2 plots, the Chadwick Garden, which utilizes the “French Intensive/biodynamic” method, where plants are closely spaced and on raised beds, as well as the 25-acre farm, where both hand worked and tractor cultivated row-crops are placed. Both plots are organic certified, and well established, being established in 1967 and 1971, respectively. The Life Lab, is an additional educational opportunity that helps to develop garden-based science and nutrition curricula for elementary schools as well as manages a model school garden and training site.
Crops Grown: Mixed Crops, Fruits
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8. Michigan State University
Michigan State University offers a 15-acre year-round teaching and production farm that is organic certified. Production is carried out by students in the SOF Farm Crew, students from the 9-month Organic Farmer Training Program (OFTP), and volunteers. Produce is available 48 weeks of the year through the community supported agriculture program (CSA), as well as stands on the MSU campus throughout 7 months of the year, or through MSU dining halls. Production is diversified and includes vegetables, livestock, flowers, fruits, and herbs.
Crops Grown: Mixed Crops, Fruits, Herbs, Livestock
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9. Clemson University
Clemson’s Student Organic Farm was granted 15 acres of the Calhoun Field Laboratory in 2001, and organic certified in 2005, not using any synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. The farm is interdisciplinary, offering opportunities for everything from creative inquiry projects to graduate research, and the farm relies heavily on student involvement in all aspects of farm management, production and marketing. Along with experiential learning, the farm focuses on the production of high value vegetables, small fruit, herbs, and cut flowers which may be purchased through the farms Campus Supported Agriculture program, and local farmer’s markets.
Crops Grown: Fruits, Mixed Crops, Flowers
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10. California Polytechnic State University
The 11-acre production farm at Cal poly State is certified organic, and provides a place where undergraduate students can get hands-on experience in organic and sustainable farming and gardening practices. The farm is jointly managed by students, faculty, and staff, and produces dozens of varieties of vegetables that are sold locally or given to the Food Bank. Students may become involved through “enterprise projects,” which center on direct participation in production, care, harvesting and marketing organic vegetables. Currently the farm is supported by the Horticulture and Crop Science Department, the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, local sales, and through grants and donations.
Crops Grown: Mixed Crops
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