Top 10 Agriculture Colleges And Universities

When it comes to agricultural colleges and universities, the United States boasts an abundance of highly acclaimed educational institutions. Below, we highlight some of the country’s best agricultural schools from entrepreneurial programs to agribusiness training centers.

• College of the Ozarks

The College of the Ozarks relies on student labor across its agricultural work spaces. These include a dairy farm, hog farm, garden, orchard, agronomy station, feed mill, beef farm and horticulture lab. The school is famous for its annual Future Farmers of America workshop that hosts 2,000 attendees.

• Warren Wilson College

This national liberal arts college is one of only a handful of federally recognized work colleges in the United States. The majority of Warren Wilson students work on the college’s 275 acre farm that contains 25 fields in the stunning Swannanoa Valley. The farm’s livestock mainly consists of hogs and beef cattle. The farm also contains an heirloom apple orchard as well as a bee crew.

• Hampshire College

Hampshire’s farming program began in the late 1970s. The school’s farm now spans 100 acres. The college’s academic program features internships, work study programs and independent study. Nearly all of the food produced at Hampshire’s farm is locally sourced.

• College of the Atlantic

Students at the College of the Atlantic enjoy the 73 acre Beech Hill Farm. Situated on glacial till soils, this farm produces organic vegetables that are mostly sold to locals. The school is widely lauded for its focus on human ecology.

• Deep Springs College

Situated on a cattle ranch and alfalfa farm, Deep Springs college has merely 26 students. Yet each receives a full scholarship for two years. The school’s program features a farm-based labor component in which each student is assigned a new labor position every 7 weeks.

• Michigan State University

Students at Michigan State enjoy a year round agricultural educational curriculum on the school’s 15 acre farm. Students form the “SOF Farm Crew” and partake in a 9 month long Organic Farmer Training Program.

• Western Washington University

Western Washington has a 5 acre farm along with a wetland restoration site. Here you will find organic farming, habitat restoration, green building and much more. Students, faculty and staff can all access plots in the community garden at no cost.

• UC Santa Cruz

Praised for its farming apprenticeship programs, UC Santa Cruz specializes in the French Intensive method in which plants are placed close to one another on raised beds. The campus features two organic plots that have been around since the 60s and 70s.

• Clemson University

Clemson boasts a certified organic farm run by its agricultural students. This is an interdisciplinary farm that empowers students to learn about all aspects of farming including advertising, management and food production.

• Butte College

This diminutive community college by Chico has an 80 acre farm with a vineyard and organic fruit orchard. The school’s ethos is sustainable agriculture. It has been producing organic produce since 1990. Butte is also the home of the first ever west coast organic dairy.