About the Book
"Essays from staff on 15 farms . . . illustrate the trials, tribulations and sheer joys of establishing and maintaining such enterprises." --USA Today
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. 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.
"A timely and hopeful book." --Jason Peters, editor of Wendell Berry: Life and Work
"The opportunity for students to spend time learning on campus farms is not just a good idea--it should be mandatory." --Gary Hirshberg, President & CEO, Stonyfield Farm
"An excellent book, useful for anyone interested in the past, or the future, of the student farm movement." --Journal of Agricultural & Food Information
About the Author :
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.
Review :
"" "Fields of Learning" helps answer the question, 'Where will future food, and more importantly, future farmers, come from?' It is inspiring and imminently practical, hopeful and instructive. The book illustrates the deep roots of the student farm movement, while planting seeds for future harvest. It is timely, relevant, and insightful, and should help restore food production as a multi-disciplinary, intelligent, and highly valued profession."--Jim Riddle, Organic Outreach Coordinator, UMN-Southwest Research and Outreach Center" --
"" "Fields of Learning" makes a strong case for reorganizing the way we produce food in this country, specifically claiming that we put more people on the land -- many more, not fewer, as has been the calamitous trend during the 'agribusiness' Reign of Error. And if it hasn't been obvious to educators that their institutions should actually help fix what Wes Jackson calls the 'eyes-to-acre ratio, ' it ought to be now. This is a timely and hopeful book." -- Jason Peters, editor of "Wendell Berry: Life and Work"" --
""An excellent book, useful for anyone interested in the past, or the future, of the student farm movement."-- "Journal of Agricultural & Food Information"" --
""As young, aspiring land stewards flock to the farm-food localization movement, "Fields of Learning" offers a blueprint for farm-school endeavors. What a wonderful addition to the how-to component that will energize a modern generation of Jeffersonian intellectual agrarians."--Joel Salatin, Polyface Farm" --
""Some books are interesting, but not necessary. Others are necessary, but not interesting. "Fields of Learning" is a necessary book, and thankfully, interesting."--Wes Jackson, author of "Consulting the Genius of the Place: An Ecological Approach to a New Agriculture"" --
""This book not only showcases successful undergraduate farm experiences, but alos provides an inventory of all US and Canadian student farm projects, including their age, size, and production foci.... Highly recommended."-- "CHOICE"" --
""With only 1 1/2% of all Americans identifying themselves as farmers, our most urgent national security need is to recruit the coming generation of food producers in both rural and urban landscapes. Sayre and Clark provide an essential service toward meeting this need by showing how the student farm movement is doing more to train the future leaders of North America's food system than the Farm Bureau may be doing. Their lovely and inspiring message should be heard by all."--Gary Paul Nabhan, PhD., "father" of the local food movement, author of "Coming Home to Eat" and "Where Our Food Comes From"" --
""Fields of Learning provides a useful first look at a phenomenon that promises to become an important part of debates on the future of agriculture in America." -- Dona Brown, University of Vermont" --
""Fields of Learning helps answer the question, 'Where will future food, and more importantly, future farmers, come from?' It is inspiring and imminently practical, hopeful and instructive. The book illustrates the deep roots of the student farm movement, while planting seeds for future harvest. It is timely, relevant, and insightful, and should help restore food production as a multi-disciplinary, intelligent, and highly valued profession."--Jim Riddle, Organic Outreach Coordinator, UMN-Southwest Research and Outreach Center" --
""Fields of Learning makes a strong case for reorganizing the way we produce food in this country, specifically claiming that we put more people on the land -- many more, not fewer, as has been the calamitous trend during the 'agribusiness' Reign of Error. And if it hasn't been obvious to educators that their institutions should actually help fix what Wes Jackson calls the 'eyes-to-acre ratio, ' it ought to be now. This is a timely and hopeful book." -- Jason Peters, editor of Wendell Berry: Life and Work" --
""Laura Sayre and Sean Clark compiled essays from staff on 15 farms to illustrate the trials, tribulations and sheer joys of establishing and maintaining such enterprises." --USA Today" --
""Sayre and Clark investigate student farming not only through the lens of sustainability but also as an opportunity for experiential learning, with the capability of teaching valuable lessons about the global market, biology, engineering, anthropology, and more." --Hampshire College" --
""The collection of essays... explores "the next generation of farmers," offering concrete answers to urgent questions surrounding who will be growing our food -- and how -- in the coming generations."--Prescott College" --
""The opportunity for students to spend time learning on campus farms is not just a good idea---it should be mandatory."--Gary Hirshberg, President & CEO, Stonyfield Farm" --
