Hampshire College

The study of food, agriculture, and rural life brings together faculty and students interested in the central intellectual, political, scientific, and cultural issues that dominate contemporary discussion of food and agriculture.

The program combines a diverse academic curriculum with practical experience at the Hampshire College Farm Center, an organic working farm, and workshops with visiting writers, artists, and scholars. Students gain experience with the complex issues of sustainability through internships and apprenticeships with farms and advocacy groups.

Sample First-Year Course
Ecology, Agriculture and Society
This course looks at agriculture as a set of ecological systems and issues. It refers to ecology in both the sense of interactions between organisms (e.g., crops, pests, and predators) and their environment, and in the larger-scale sense of environmental impacts and related social and political issues. A broad range of topics will be covered, including pesticides and alternatives, soil fertility and erosion, the role of animals, genetically modified crops, biofuels, global vs. local trade and more. The course work will consist of readings, discussion, written assignments (with revisions as needed), work at the Hampshire farm, group and independent projects, guest lectures and films, and field trips. Given the field work, always be prepared to walk and be outside (e.g., sun screen/rain gear, sensible shoes). Some field work may include other times and days to be arranged in class.

Facilities and Resources
The Hampshire College Farm Center is a working farm, as well as a research, education, and outreach facility, dedicated to sustainable agriculture. Created in the late seventies as an experimental project of the Natural Science faculty, the Farm Center continues to be a place where students and faculty integrate science and alternative technology as a means for testing sustainable methods of farming.

Students and faculty develop research projects and take advantage of work study opportunities; local community members participate in workshops and buy organic vegetables through the Community Supported Agriculture program; and local school children and teens learn about farming through the School-to-Farm Program.

Students involved in the study of agriculture in the School of Natural Science and on the Farm can also take advantage of the state-of-the-art open laboratories in Cole Science Center. Our agriculture, ecology, environmental science, and molecular biology labs help bridge the indoor and outdoor environments, where advanced students design and execute original research experiments to test out non-toxic methods of pest control or determine the most effective methods to encourage aerobic composting microbes.

Along with student and faculty research and a Community Supported Agriculture program which supplies organic vegetables to the Hampshire community, the Farm Center offers workshops in such diverse arts as weaving, beekeeping, natural fiber dyeing, and maple sugaring. The School-to-Farm program, Farm Apprenticeship program, and Summer Farm Camp link Hampshire to the surrounding community, bringing children and young people to the Farm Center for hands-on learning experiences.

The Sustainable Campus Plan for the college promotes the campus as a living laboratory to engage students in green design, sustainable community development, and responsible land practices. An initiative is underway to build a sustainable apartment as part of campus.