Fields of Learning: The Student Farm Movement in North America

Originally published in 2011, Fields of Learning remains the single best resource for students, faculty, and administrators involved in starting or supporting campus farms. Featuring detailed profiles of fifteen diverse student farms on college and university campuses across North America, the book also serves as a history of the student farm movement, showing how the idea of campus farms has come in and out of fashion over the past century and how the tenacious work of students, faculty, and other campus community members has upheld and reimagined the objectives of student farming over time. Ranging in size from less than an acre to hundreds of acres, supplying food to campus dining halls or community food banks, and hosting scientific research projects or youth education programs, student farms highlight the interdisciplinary richness and multifunctionality of agriculture, supporting academic work across a range of fields while simultaneously building community engagement and stimulating critical conversations about environmental and social justice. Sayre's introductory chapter describes some of the dilemmas and implications of student farming, while a concluding chapter provides step-by-step guidelines to starting a student farm. Today, as institutions of higher learning face new challenges linked to the global climate crisis and public health emergency, this book holds continued relevance for readers in North America and beyond.

Laura Sayre is a writer and translator (French to English). A part-time farmer, she manages twenty acres in western Massachusetts and is on the board of the North Amherst Community Farm. Sean Clark is Clarence M. Clark Chair in Mountain Agriculture and professor of agriculture and natural resources at Berea College in Kentucky.