Make your farm dreams a reality with the MSU Organic Farmer Training Program
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EmailJoin this learning community of urban farmers, homesteaders, farmworkers, educational gardeners and food system changemakers on Mondays from February to November.
Apply now to join the 2025 Michigan State University (MSU) Organic Farmer Training Program (OFTP) to learn alongside urban farmers, homesteaders, farmworkers, educational gardeners and food system changemakers. The group meets on Mondays from February to November. Some days we dig in with hands-on farming with a Detroit group at Keep Growing Detroit and an East Lansing group at the MSU Student Organic Farm. Most days, both groups learn together during field trips to 20-plus farms, interactive online learning and shared on-farm days at each learning site.
To learn more, check out the recently updated OFTP website and the proposed schedule for 2025 or reach out to Katie Brandt at oftp@msu.edu.
Why take the OFTP? Graduates say it best!
“The best thing about starting my farm while taking the OFTP is that I have been able to take the things I am learning and put them into practice. I have learned a lot about myself and what I want for myself and my farm by attending the farm visits. My favorite part is learning from my cohort. We all glean different things and it's great to be able to hear other perspectives about the information we are all taking in.” 2023 graduate Jenny Balmes
“Because of this class I'm sure I will succeed in my endeavors because of all the information and resources I have gained. I also believe I will make lifelong friends from this class. Every week the community garden has grown because of this class.” 2023 graduate Clarice Shepherd
“This is an extraordinary program. It’s as good or better than much more expensive intensive training, such as the Stanford Executive Program. I built and managed my first hoophouse and made my first sales to a local restaurant during the 2019 OFTP. This would not have been possible but for your program.” 2019 graduate Bill Coughlin, Twin Manor Farm
On-farm days in Detroit or East Lansing
There is no better way to learn how to farm than to actually farm! You'll choose either Keep Growing Detroit or the MSU Student Organic Farm in East Lansing as your hands-on learning site to plant, tend and harvest crops on a successful farm. Farm walks help everyone to see the progress of crops through the season and to take a closer look as part of class themes like soils, weeds, insect pests or farm tools. New farmers from Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck are encouraged to apply by Nov. 15 to qualify for the Detroit Farmer Scholarship.
Keep Growing Detroit is a model urban farm that grows and distributes transplants to 2,200 gardens and farms in Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck through the Garden Resource Program. Keep Growing Detroit also offers workshops for gardeners and farmers, soil testing for lead, assistance with applying for hoophouses through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and much more. Detroit-area farmers at this site will learn from Keep Growing Detroit farmers Rosebud Schneider, Kido Pielack, Molly Hubbell and Angela Lugo-Thomas. Choose this site if you are a Detroit or southeast Michigan farmer interested in urban farming and farming at the micro-scale.
The MSU Student Organic Farm in East Lansing is a 15-acre campus farm focused on growing confident, capable college students while also growing vegetables, herbs and fruits. The farm grows vegetables in the field with tractor power, in the hoophouses with human power and grows fruits in the Edible Forest Garden with the power of permaculture. East Lansing OFTP participants learn from OFTP coordinator Katie Brandt and Student Organic Farm manager Darby Anderson. This is a great learning site for production farmers, anyone planning for over 2 acres of vegetables, permaculturists and those able to drive to East Lansing nine times over the growing season.
Field trips
Field trips are a favorite! Farm tours at 20+ sustainable farms in Michigan and Chicago will give you dozens of examples of what to grow, how to raise and market it and how to manage hoophouses, design farm infrastructure, choose tools, make business decisions and more. Here are some of the farms we might visit on each of our trips:
- Detroit: Visit urban farms working with youth and the community to build food sovereignty and confront racism in the food and farm system through non-profit farms, schoolyard gardens, art and food forests at farms like Drew Farm, Oakland Avenue Farm, D-Town Farm Beaverland Farm and the Detroit Partnership for Food Learning and Innovation.
- Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti: Visit a mix of urban and rural farms, including farms like Green Things Farm Collective (no-till veggies and flowers), Growing Hope (model urban gardens) and We the People Opportunity Farm (healing and learning space for returning citizens from incarceration).
- Three-day trip to Chicago: Stay in shared cabins and campsites at Camp Bullfrog Lake 30 minutes from downtown. We’ll visit great non-profit farms and schoolyard gardens, like Windy City Harvest, Gardeneers, The Urban Canopy, Garfield Park Conservatory and more!
- Lansing: Learn from the farmers at a native plant nursery, an urban farm, a children’s garden and a grass-based dairy farm.
- Grand Rapids: We often visit Green Wagon Farm, New City Farm and an apple orchard.
- Flint: For our final tour, we visit a cut flower farm in the city, a grocery store owned by urban farmers, a farm dedicated to combatting lead water contamination through nutrient-dense fresh veggies and other local farms.
Interactive online learning
You'll enjoy 14 days of interactive online learning where you can learn from 20+ guest speakers and from the vision, experience and wisdom of other new farmers in the group. Group discussions and presentations about vision, site plan and farm plan allow everyone in the cohort to learn from each other. We also split into online breakout rooms to brainstorm ideas for participants’ farms or to get feedback on assignments or class activities. Online shared documents give everyone a space to collaborate on class activities and brainstorm ideas for sections of their farm plans.
Writing a plan for YOUR farm or educational garden
Organic Farmer Training Program graduates each write a farm plan to fit their unique goals, skills, farmsite, soils and community needs. You'll choose to write a Farm Business Plan to sell farm goods or services, a Community Farm Plan for educational gardens and non-profit farms, or a Homestead Plan to grow for self-sufficiency. Your farm plan will grow step-by-step, starting with values and goals on day one and adding plans for soil management, crops, site design, marketing, community engagement, financials and more over the 33 weeks of the class.
How to apply
This is your chance to make your farm dreams a reality! To join this learning community, please send the following:
- OFTP application
- Resume or CV
- 2 letters of recommendation (employers, colleagues, farmers you’ve worked or volunteered for, farm customers, etc.)
- Visit the Student Organic Farm or meet online (contact Katie Brandt to schedule an hour to meet)
If you are farming, gardening or living in Detroit, Hamtramck or Highland Park, you may also want to apply for the Detroit Farmer Scholarship. Links to apply are below:
- Scholarship application for farmers from Detroit/Hamtramck/Highland Park
- Financial Need Form for farmers from Detroit/Hamtramck/Highland Park
Dig in!
Reach out to OFTP coordinator Katie Brandt at oftp@msu.edu if you have any questions or if you'd like recommendations of farms in your region where you can gain skills this season before taking the OFTP.
