How do you practice Adaptive Agriculture? You start by educating yourself on cutting edge practices, by questioning conventions, by equipping yourself with the skills to flex, adapt, and adjust to changing conditions and contexts.

At the School of Adaptive Agriculture, students are immersed in a residential training program and are exposed to a broad spectrum of scales, styles, strategies, and skills. This 12 week program combines experiential learning on a 5,000 acre diverse ranch with classroom based learning in order to send students off with a comprehensive vocabulary, skill set, and understanding of the foundations of small scale agriculture. Over 25 field trips and 12 guest instructors participate in this unique learning experience, giving students a well-rounded education that helps launch them into their career in the food system.

Duties & Responsibilities: 

Total cost to students of our 12 week program is $4,000. Students receive food, housing, and a high quality, comprehensive education. Students are expected to be engaged in classroom activities as well as farm chores.

The school is unique in all that it has to offer. Based on a historic ranch in rural Mendocino County, the school campus includes a 1920s school house, library, outdoor kitchen, bathhouse, dining area, composting toilet, and workshop.

~Students live in private 10X12” canvas wall tents equipped with solar power and fully furnished.
~Two showers with hot water are available after a long day working and learning, in addition to washing machine and drier.
~5 days a week students cook meals together in an outdoor kitchen stocked with staples and farm fresh produce, meat and eggs (provided by the school).
~Despite the rustic setting, wifi is available on the main campus 24/7

Education & Experience: 

This program is for adults who have decided to enter a career in the food system. They may not know what their role will be yet. But they want to be among the million new farmers, ranchers, and small businesses leaders this country needs in order to transform agriculture through creative, sustainable and profitable enterprises.

The School of Adaptive Agriculture is part of the movement to make that happen. This unique, residential intensive program where students get true hands-on experience with vegetable, grain, fruit, and livestock production. As well as extensive time in the field, lectures and discussion, readings and field trips so that students are exposed to a wide range of scales, forms of production, theories, and vocabulary. Students are given a broad spectrum of agricultural learning that equips them with the background, vocabulary and context for the next steps in their agricultural careers. They will also leave with hands-on practical experience and a framework for creative decision making and communication skills.

Application Instructions: 

Applications are available at https://www.school-of-adaptive-agriculture.org/program/application/. Admission is competitive and a completed application is important in our decision process. A completed application will include your resume, complete contact and application term information, and thoughtful answers to the questions below.

If you are requesting financial aid, submit a brief letter describing your financial situation, and the amount of support for which you would like to be considered.

Next steps – If the committee is interested in your application we will contact you to schedule an interview. After the interview, you will be notified by the committee whether you were accepted into the program. If you are accepted into the program a $400.00 deposit will be required to secure your spot in the term of your preference. Scholarships awards will be announced the week following acceptance decisions.

If you have a question about the application, please contact us at office@adaptiveagriculture.org.

Spring Term 2018 – Important Dates

Term runs: April 2nd – July 22nd 2018
Applications due: Friday, February 2nd
Acceptance decisions: Friday, February 16th
Scholarship awarded by: Friday, February 23rd
Deposit due: Friday, March 2nd
Remaining fees due: Friday, March 16th
Move in: Sunday, April 1st
First day of class: Monday, April 2nd
Last day of class: Friday, July 6th

Summer Term 2018 – Important Dates

Term runs: August 6th – October 26th 2018
Applications due: Friday, June 8th
Acceptance decisions: Friday, June 22nd
Scholarship awarded by: Friday, June 29th
Deposit due: Friday, July 6th
Remaining fees due: Friday, July 20th
Move in: Sunday, August 5th
First day of class: Monday, August 6th
Last day of class: Friday, October 26th

School of Adaptive Agriculture
16200 North Highway 101, Willits, CA 95490

To learn more about farming jobs and internships or to post an opportunity on beginningfarmers.org, go to: https://www.beginningfarmers.org/internship-and-employment-opportunities/

To learn more about beginning farmer training programs go to: https://www.beginningfarmers.org/beginning-farmer-training-programs/