Farm Programs

Training New Growers in Whole Farm Planning and Management

Student farms played an integral role in all SAgE partner programs by pairing academics with practical, hands-on experience and training through field trip, service learning, and volunteer opportunities that were woven into each curriculum. Robust experiential education was also offered through the SAgE Internship, Practicum, and Research in Sustainable Agriculture courses.

While SAgE partner college and university programs developed campus greenhouse, garden, and micro-farm spaces as their living laboratories, Viva Student Farms broadened the scope of learning to include diversified row cropping, woody plant integration, and small animal husbandry within the context of an agricultural landscape. In particular, students could take an on-farm Viva Practicum in Sustainable Agriculture course either as a capstone or as one course in a series of seasonal Practicum courses.

Upon successful completion of the series, through a SAgE partner college or directly through Viva Farms, students obtained the necessary prerequisites to apply to the Viva Farm Business Incubator program. Viva Student Farms continue to host the Viva Practicum in Sustainable Agriculture program in the bucolic, piedmont valleys of King and Skagit counties.