Teen Farm Fellowship

Fostering future thought leadership in agriculture and sustainability.

A unique, paid opportunity for teens to learn about sustainable agriculture and develop workforce-ready skills.

The Teen Farm Fellowship is a 9-week program, from June to August, providing place-based, hands-on experiences to teach local youth ages 15-18 essential skills in small-scale diversified organic farming through hands-on experiential learning as well as on and off-site training.

Under the direction of the Education Programs Manager, Vegetable Production Manager, and Teen Farm Fellowship Lead, the Fellows will learn a variety of sustainable agricultural and horticultural skills, as well as develop crucial professional and team building experience. The fellowship is involved with production operations at Cedar Circle Farm and Education Center including planting, maintaining and harvesting crops, distribution of produce and more.

Fellows will learn the workings of Cedar Circle’s 25-acre vegetable, berry, and flower operations by working alongside the production crew to perform daily operations. Tasks will range from weeding and cultivating to harvesting, with the majority of time spent working outdoors.

There will additionally be service learning opportunities to work on other local farms and with youth agriculture programs to enhance their educational experience and training. This opportunity will provide fellows with other examples of food production systems outside of Cedar Circle. Students will be expected to reflect in writing on their experiences with other farms.

The program will run from June through August. 30–35 hours per week expected, with half days on Mondays and Fridays (8am - 12:00pm) and full days on Tues / Weds / Thurs (8am - 3:30pm).

This is a challenging and rewarding experience, as well as an excellent paid opportunity, for teens considering a future in agriculture, horticulture, botany, ecology, climate science, agricultural (or environmental) education, or any other field that requires well-developed group communication and leadership skills.

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Questions? Contact Dana, Teen Farm Fellowship Lead, at dana@cedarcirclefarm.org, or call 802-785-4737 during business hours, Monday to Friday.

Why this program?

Farmers grow food to feed our entire country, yet make up less than two percent of the population. We depend on this undersized workforce in the face of very urgent climate change impacts, while acknowledging another impending crisis for our food system: the aging population of farmers. The average age of a farmer in the United States is 57. As many of our farmers approach retirement age, we have to ask: “Who will feed us in the future?”

Now is the time to invest in our youth—to inspire and support young leaders to create a dynamic and resilient food system. The next generation of producers will need to understand not only how to grow food, fuel, and fiber, but also how to face the challenges presented by climate change and a growing population.

Dispatches from the Teen Farm Fellows

Our 2025 cohort of five Teen Farm Fellows engaged in problem solving in agriculture, harvesting produce and removing invasive species on the farm, and service learning projects at 11 local farms, community gardens, and schools in the Upper Valley. As part of the program, they wrote a blog post about one of the experiences: