UVM's Catamount Farm strawberries

Welcome to the Catamount Educational Farm

The mission of Catamount Farm is to model sustainable farming practices through a working vegetable and fruit farm that provides educational and research opportunities for the UVM community. 

 

Experiential Learning

Students are integral in carrying out all activities on the 10-acre Catamount Farm, and this experiential learning environment provides them with real and diverse sustainable farm management skills. Students gain hands-on experience in:

  • Vegetable, flower and herb production
  • Soil health and fertility management
  • Crop planning and field mapping 
  • Compost production and use
  • Cover cropping and crop rotation systems
  • Propagation and greenhouse management
  • Harvest and post-harvest handling techniques
  • Farm financials
  • Agricultural business planning
  • And more!

Produce grown at the farm is sold to the UVM community through summer and fall Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares, at a local farmer’s market, and at the Catamount Farm Stand. Some of the produce is also sold to UVM’s Sodexo food service and served in campus eateries and dining halls. Catamount Farm enables students to be immersed in the local food system working alongside expert farmers and educators.

The Farmer Training Program

UVM Catamount Farm Washing Root Crops

The Farmer Training Program is a 6-month, full-time intensive program for aspiring farmers and food systems advocates that provides a hands-on, skill-based education in sustainable agriculture. Established in 2011, this full-time program offers participants the unique opportunity to manage their own growing site, take classes from professors and expert farmers, and rotate as workers and learners on successful, diverse farms in the Burlington area.

Catamount Farm Summer Experience

UVM Catamount Farm Broccoli Harvest

The Catamount Farm Summer Experience includes a suite of integrated undergraduate Plant and Soil Science courses that include study on: sustainable, diversified vegetable production; herb growing; the fundamentals of soil science; an introduction to agroecology; permaculture; and beekeeping.