CEFS internships, apprenticeships, and graduate fellowships provide opportunities for future leaders, farmers, scientists, and activists to learn about climate change and begin to make changes in our food system to minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

College students participating in the Local Food Ambassador Program are interested in climate change and overall resiliency in their communities. Developing youth leadership can help build processes and awareness for how communities can respond to and bounce back from climate change effects as they arise.

Farm to School education and practices impact the way future generations understand and prioritize climate change, as well as how young people act as current change makers. Additionally, the market relationship between schools and farmers also provides an opportunity for public institutions to support practices that mitigate climate change and advance community food resiliency.

We acknowledge and name the structural inequities that disadvantage farmers of color and disproportionately impact communities of color, and so addressing Racial Equity education and strategies are among our highest priorities to address Climate Change and advance community food security. Schools are sites that offer an invaluable opportunity to educate and model sustainability practices as well as Racial Equity principles, and so we seek to support and highlight the local efforts of various districts across the state.

CEFS Farm to Early Care and Education initiatives guide children to appreciate the importance of the earth and what it provides to us as humans and as eaters.

Natural resource conservation and biodiversity are key components of agroecological systems that are sustainable and resilient. The Agroecology Education Farm demonstrates a type of agricultural system that can help mitigate climate change by reducing fossil fuels in agricultural production through the use of organic-based N fertilizers only (cover crops, residues), resulting in higher quality and variety of (almost) year-round food.

By using passive solar greenhouses, both stationary and with a sliding infrastructure, the Agroecology Education Farm is able to extend the growing season almost year-round, without fossil fuels. Hundreds of K-12 and university students and other community members visit the farm each year to learn about climate change adaptation practices through microclimate modification of growing food in hoop houses.

Additionally, the Agroecology Education Farm promotes varied crop production systems highlighted in practice on the farm through crop rotations, intercropping, perennial systems, and cover crop rotations. Biodiversity is critical to developing agroecosystems that are resilient to climate change and other disturbances. Another important practice you will see at the Agroecology Education Farm is water conservation through drip irrigation. Lastly, you can observe various strategies to promote habitat for beneficial organisms and wildlife at the Agroecology Education Farm that include a large buffer (75 ft x ~825 ft) comprised of native perennial plants, a smaller garden on the fence edge that includes more flowers and flower crops and cover crops integrated into the farm plots and hoop houses.

Learn more about the Agroecology Education Farm.