Causes: Agricultural Programs, Arts & Culture, Arts, Culture & Humanities, Education, Educational Services, Food, Museums

Mission: Our mission is to create a healthy and sustainable food system that benefits us all. We work to change the way america eats and farms by raising public awareness about the value of healthy, seasonal, sustainable food; educating children about the sources of their food; training new farmers in resilient, restorative farming techniques; and experimenting with and improving sustainable farming practices.

Programs: Raising public awareness - educating our visitorsstone barns center receives more than 100,000 visitors every year. The center offers a variety of public programs about food and agriculture including classes, lectures and workshops taught by experts. Topics range from growing your own food, to cooking with in-season ingredients, to planting pollinator-friendly landscapes, to backyard beekeeping, to stewarding ecological health and more. Stone barns develops communications tools to extend the reach of our message to people across the country who are hungry for tools, tips and ideas to make smarter food choices. The goal of all of our public outreach is to connect people to what they eat and awaken them to the health and environmental consequences of their food choices.

growing farmers initiative - educating the next generation of farmersthe centers growing farmers initiative is working to increase the numbers of small and midsize farmers practicing resilient, sustainable agriculture. The center equips young farmers with the knowledge and hands-on experience to grow better-tasting, healthier food and become responsible stewards of the land. Programs seek to remove the barriers that stand in the way of their success, whether those are access to land, prohibitive capital costs, or marketing and distribution challenges. Core elements of the program include internships and apprenticeships, technical trainings, the countrys premier national young farmer conferences, academic forums and courses, and the virtual grange, an online community and hub for beginning farmers.

children's education programs - training future eaters & stewards of the landschool-aged children are a critical audience for stone barns because engaging them directly with tasty and nutritious food is the first step in establishing a pattern of improved eating as adults, and creating the next generation of thoughtful food consumers. Education programs at stone barns include school field trips, summer farm day camp and after-school and pre-school classes. Since 2004, stone barns centers unique, hands-on education programs have served more than 64,000 children.