Growing a Crop of Future Farmers

It’s National Apprenticeship Week (April 26-May 2), and we’re excited to highlight our Organic Vegetable Farm Manager Apprenticeship Program!  An accredited program in Wisconsin, 27 apprentices have graduated since 2021. 

Apprenticeships are a powerful way for aspiring farmers to develop the skills they need for a meaningful and successful farming career.  Farmer educators and apprentices alike bring their unique experiences and desires to the program, which helps shape their participation.

Since the program was first registered in 2018, it has been amazing to see the connections that emerge through cohorts learning alongside one another, where they land after graduation, and how they’re putting their skills to use. One such example is Gwenyn Hill Farm, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where a graduate from the apprenticeship is now a farmer-educator at the same farm!

Liz, who graduated from the program in 2022 and is now the Vegetable Production Manager at Gwenyn Hill, is shepherding Kim through the program. Kim will graduate from the apprenticeship program at the end of the season in 2026.

Liz shares: “After years of working with farmers and local food producers through a small farmers market, I had the opportunity to complete a farming internship at Granor Farm in Three Oaks, Michigan in 2018. Over the course of six months, I experienced the joys and hardships of organic farming. I also learned just enough to know that I have a lot more to learn when it comes to farm work and local agriculture systems. 

To me, these past experiences demonstrated that farming is a way to care for the land and its inhabitants.” It was at this point that Liz joined the apprenticeship cohort.

Caring for the land and environment is a common thread of those who enter this field as a first generation farmer, and it provides practical applications of sustainability that are a great foundation for many paths within the food system.

Another common thread that spurs entrance into the apprenticeship is food and the belief that all people deserve easy access to fresh, nutritious foods. 

“Throughout my life, I have questioned the food systems that we live with. It started in middle school when we were presented with a documentary on commercial agriculture,” states Kim.

“People living in low-income neighborhoods should have access to fresh food as much as anyone else. I farm to learn about the land and to create habitats for creatures. I farm to connect with my roots. I farm in the hope of one day educating the community. But most importantly, I farm for the boys and girls out there who were once like me. Children with little to no access to farm-fresh foods, this is for you.”

Regardless of background, experience, or ultimate goals after graduation, the Organic Vegetable Farm Manager Apprenticeship is a solid path for practical, active learning and engagement with the local food and farming community. At a time when the average age of the American farmer is 58 years old and important federal funding for aspiring farmers is being cut, programs like the Organic Vegetable Apprenticeship Program are a crucial entry point for the next generation of farmers.   

We hope you’ll join us in celebrating both the apprentices and the farmer-educators that are shaping the future of organic agriculture through this program!