From Anon. on Thu, April 23, 2009

My gut says let’s not promote the UC Santa Cruz program. It’s a program that COSTS the apprentice money (roughly $3,000 last I checked in 2005). New farmers can get just as much education apprenticing on nearly any other farm in the country, for free, and likely win a stipend in the process (without having to camp with 30 other people nonetheless). Let’s not urge donations to this program in the place of others!

From Tana Butler on Tue, April 28, 2009

Dear Anonymous:

Why no name? What are you afraid of? Who are you supporting on your own agenda? I never EVER trust the sentinents expressed by anyone who hides behind the cloak of anonymity. It discredits you.

“Camping with 30 other people” is EXACTLY the purpose of the apprenticeship program. As one former apprentice put it, the soil tells you its secrets at dawn and at dusk, and the residential aspect of the program is precisely what gives it the most value. What can a commuter, 8-5, know about awakening before dawn on a hot summer morning, when the cool allows for greater productivity? And what depth of community does a commuter have, isolated in solitude during a commute to the beehive that contains all the souls who have committed six months or more of their lives?

I have heard the residential program likened to the Peace Corps. Would you likewise recommend that people not donate to the Peace Corps, because “who needs to waste all that gasoline flying do-gooders all over the world, where they’re probably not welcome, anyway?” (You do sound so cynical.)

Yes, the apprentices pay tuition, in exchange for an education from one of, if not THE most highly regarded (and longest lived) sustainable farming programs in the world.

I have been photographing farms for ten years now, and blogging about them?the people AND places?for four years. I have no greater love or admiration for any souls on this planet than those who do the hard work of farming. When I visited the UCSC Farm a couple of years ago, I felt as though I had found my home?in a way, my church. I have never encountered a more inspirational community of people, young and old, who shared a greater joy and passion than these.

I quickly was asked to join the board, and it has literally become my life’s work to promote this wonderful program. The apprentices take all they learn?the research, the techniques, the skills?out into the world and live them. They distill the dry research into living information. They translate the foreign scientific language into real speech that I can understand and trust.

I cannot imagine who you think more deserving of support than this program, but I know you haven’t visited the farm to see with your own eyes what’s going on up there. And i kind of feel sorry for you that you have such a baseless and negative response to something that is inspiring to everyone I’ve encountered, during my outreach on this project, who know the quality, the value, and the brilliance of the apprentice program at the UCSC Farm & Garden. I hope you can rectify that soon with a visit, and have your eyes and heart opened.

Here is a post I wrote shortly after I visited the farm during the 40th reunion a couple of years ago. The good works being done by the graduates are incredible.

http://smallfarms.typepad.com/small_farms/2007/08/ucscs-apprentic.html

Signed,
Tana Butler
Secretary, Board of Directors
Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden
http://www.iheartfarms.com

P.S. Slow Food USA: thank you, from ALL of us who are working so hard to make this vision a reality.

From Beth Benjamin on Tue, April 28, 2009

It’s true that the program costs money, and actually I was an apprentice there before there was even a program so it didn’t cost me anything in 1967, but the training is so excellent - academic AND hands on AND residential AND community/capacity/network building - and taught by such excellent and dedicated staff - that it is well worth it. The communal camping/eating/living part is an amazing experience in itself - one that builds all kinds of other skills. The farm I started after working at UCSC is still turning out its yearly quota of inspired farmers and gardeners and good informed citizens - and the reason is because of what we learned there. My farm is also a non-profit educational organization, and, like all others, is in constant search of funds to supplement what the farm earns, but we are fully supporting this fundraising campaign with our own time, work and money because we think they do such a good job. The CASFS apprentice graduates have gone out into the country and the world very well prepared and motivated to spread the seeds everywhere they can. I do urge people to consider helping with their fundraising efforts which will legitimize the program’s residential status into the future.

From Don Burgett on Tue, April 28, 2009

Thanks for the informative post and for spreading the word about the Grow A Farmer campaign.  I want to respond to the first comment (Anon, 4/23), if I may. The short version: People should absolutely support the UCSC program and this campaign. It is necessary to continue the unique training there in 2010 and beyond. Basic farm apprenticeships, while valuable and important, provide nowhere near the intensive experience the UCSC Apprenticeship does. Most are not actually free either, even when they provide very little formal instruction.

The longer version:  I was an apprentice at UCSC in 1997-8 and am on the board of the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden, which is working hard to meet the urgent need right now to fund long-term apprentice housing. Tuition for the 6-month, full-time program was $3,000 in 1997 and is now $4,500. The staff have always been averse to charging and then increasing tuition through the years, and tuition only provides about 1/3 of the program’s budget The rest comes mainly from produce/plant sales (about 1/3) and private charitable gifts and grants (about 1/3 also).

While we are heartened to see a range of other land-based organic training programs growing slowly in other parts of the country, the UCSC Farm & Garden Apprenticeship is quite different from private farm apprenticeships. While some farms offer real mentoring and take time for instruction, most cannot afford to do so and are much more traditional side-by-side work “assistantships” without much in the way of formal instruction—lots of work without the chance for deeper learning to support someone’s future farming on their own.

The Apprenticeship program is a hybrid model developed over its 42-year history. About 20% of the time is given to classroom or garden-based classes, and there is a 500-page curriculum manual for intensive instruction during the course. Many other experts beyond the UCSC core staff are brought in as speakers, and the 38 apprentices go on a wide array of field trips to see other kinds of farming and gardening operations. The other 80% of their time is spent in the gardens and fields, learning by doing, in focused work producing crops for the community and for sale but also allowing for direction and careful reinforcement of the training in site by instructors as needed. While more basic, work-focused farm apprenticeships are excellent and valuable, very few farms can provide anything remotely like the intensive experience the UCSC Apprenticeship does.

Finally, it is precisely the burden of tuition, and - more importantly for most - the lack of income for six months during the Apprenticeship, that makes funding this housing critical. If we cannot do so this year, the 2010 apprentices will face *double* the cost to participate, since off-site rent will be a major additional burden. The simple cabins that we hope to build will instead continue to provide free on-site housing—very important for maximizing access to the program, and also critical to maintaining the rich learning experience of living on the farm during the program. 

I don’t blame you for your comment—the assumptions and feelings are understandable. While I am obviously biased toward the UCSC program and part of the current campaign, I hope my reply helps you and others to understand a bit more about the unique value of the Apprenticeship and the need to support it this spring. I should note that, while struggling a bit with budget cuts like all public programs, the Apprenticeship is doing fine with its year-to-year operating budget. It is only the need to build long-term housing for apprentices that is behind this campaign—we can’t do that alone and have thus reached out.

I’m happy to engage in further dialogue here if anyone would like to do so. Thanks for your interest in supporting new organic farmers of all ages. 

—Don Burgett

From Ali B. on Tue, April 28, 2009

I don’t really understand the logic of the first commenter.

People support educational programs all the time ? they donate to colleges and universities and medical schools and journalism programs and arts education organizations and even pre-schools. They do it because there’s value to society in what’s happening at those schools. Why should agricultural education ? training the people who grow the food that we eat, with its myriad complexities, challenges and risks ? be any different?

Are there alternatives? Sure. And no one is forcing anyone to do this program in particular. But clearly apprentices feel they get some value for their $ here; 1200 have attended so far, with 3 times as many applicants as there are spaces. Farmers are a smart lot, and they’re the last ones to waste $.

One thing is sure ? we need more farmers. We need an entire new generation of farmers. And many of our future farmers will be coming in with little to no farming experience. You don’t have to support this program; but please support something that will assist the next generation of farmers as they prepare to grow food for you, me, and our children.