This opportunity is being offered only to Sustainable Food and Farming majors in the UMass Stockbridge School of Agriculture. 

In a special arrangement with the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, The Farm School in Athol, Massachusetts, is offering students the opportunity to attend its year–long Learn to Farm training program while receiving college credit.

Now in its 13th year, the Learn to Farm program is a licensed, full time, 5 day/week, live-in, tuition-based training program that packs a tremendous amount of experience into a year and turns out graduates who go on to farm successfully.

Forestry, animal husbandry, carpentry, mechanics, business planning, marketing and organic vegetable production are among the practical skills that are introduced and then practiced over all four seasons in the context of a commercial operation that includes a working forest, a 200 member vegetable CSA and a 50 member meat CSA.

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Under this special arrangement, The Farm School will provide scholarship assistance so that each accepted student will pay no more than what he or she currently pays for tuition + room + board at UMass while receiving 12 credits for each of the Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 semesters from UMass.  If you are interested, first check with John Gerber to make sure you can fulfill the minimum requirements for the Sustainable Food and Farming major with this plan.  You must continue to be enrolled in UMass to take advantage of this opportunity.

Credits may be earned as:

Fall Semester

• STOCKSCH 498 E – Student Farming Enterprise (6 credits)
• STOCKSCH 396 – Independent Study (6 credits)

Spring Semester

• STOCKSCH 398 E – Student Farming Enterprise (6 credits)
• STOCKSCH 496 – Independent Study (6 credits)

Amanda Brown will supervise the Student Farming Enterprise class and John Gerber will supervise the Independent Study.

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Please visit The Farm School for a detailed program description and stories from some of its over 100 graduates.  And feel free to contact Patrick Connors at The Farm School with questions about the program.

If interested, you must apply directly to The Farm School online.  You will remain enrolled as a full time UMass student during the fall and spring semesters but your classes will all be part of your Farm School experience.  Please note that you should list at least one UMass faculty member or instructor as a reference. Rolling admissions will be capped at 5 accepted students.

If you are interested, please apply soon!