The Food, Farm, and Sustainability (FFS) Institute is designed to challenge students to explore the intersections between agriculture, food, environmental science and policy, culture, and history.

The program will combine classroom instruction and practical experience, and will be located mainly at the Hampshire College Farm Center. Not only will students learn about organic vegetable production and sustainable animal husbandry at the Farm Center, which provides food to more than 200 farm share members, they will learn about microbiology through making cheese, fermentation through making sauerkraut, and cultural practices through growing heritage varieties and breeds.

Students will be challenged to explore connections between various modes of food production and human health, with a particular emphasis on linkages to obesity, micronutrient malnutrition, and chronic diseases.

Each week of the program will have a thematic focus (see below), and faculty members from Hampshire College and other Five College institutions will provide a holistic view of the topics through lectures, discussion groups, and experiential learning opportunities.

Themes may include the following areas of inquiry among others:

• Agroecology; organic and sustainable agriculture
• Soil health and sustainability
• Pest management and entomology; related and ecological and social concerns
• Animals in agroecosystems; related issues such as antibiotics in food
• Climate change and agricultural sustainability
• Food security and sovereignty
• Food biochemistry and microbiology; value added products
• Agricultural land use and the history of agriculture