Farmers-in-Training

Applications are currently closed

Go to Fort Lewis College's Workday site and look for the Farmer-in-Training job, posted for the following season starting in November.

Program details

Dates

May 14 - October 4, 2024

Wages for fieldwork

$15 per hour, up to $3,600 for the season

Living stipend

A living stipend of up to $2,500 is available for Native American farmers and farmers from communities underrepresented in farming.

Course fees

$2400; complete and partial scholarships available

Deadlines

The 2024 application is closed. Please check back in the fall for our 2025 application.

FIT farmer holding a freshly harvested vegetable

Program description

FIT farmers gain hands-on experience growing vegetables at high elevation. The FIT program provides a strong foundation for aspiring and beginning farmers through morning field work, afternoon classes, and field trips. You will work with program staff to tend about two acres of vegetables, learning new and traditional skills and techniques vital to farming at high elevation. FITs join the Old Fort staff and program partners in a network committing to supporting beginning farmers through incubator and land access opportunities, business planning, and community support.

Schedule

Course overview

  • Orientation – May 14, 15, 16
  • Session 1: May 21 – June 27 (6 weeks – at least one field trip tied to each course)
  • Break – June 28 – July 8
  • Session 2: July 9 – August 15 (6 weeks – at least one field trip tied to each course)
  • Break – August 16 – August 26
  • Farmer Training Convergence – August 30 - 31
  • Session 3: August 27 – October 4 (4 weeks – no field trips)

Time commitment

Work and class schedules require a 22-hour/week commitment

  • Fieldwork: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.
  • Classes: Tuesday, Thursday 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.
  • Field Trips: Wednesdays 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. through August

Content

Program graduates will complete:

  • Six farming courses
  • 240 hours of work in the fields
  • At least eight field trips to regional farms

Courses include:

  • Farming tools of the trade
  • Intro to market farming
  • Seed to seed: plant basics for farmers
  • Growing specialty crops at high elevations
  • Intro to farm business planning

Fort Lewis College certificate requirements

FLC students participating in the FIT Program can opt to add a certificate, which is nested within the Regenerative Food Systems Certificate. The FIT Certificate and program are identical.

View FIT Certificate

Farmer-in-training washing vegetables
Farmer-in-training harvesting carrots
Farmer-in-training tending to sunflowers
Farmer-in-training carrying a bucket
Farmer-in-training holding a pitchfork

The Old Fort

18683 CO-140
Hesperus, CO 81326
 oldfortathesperus@fortlewis.edu
 970-385-4574

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Land Acknowledgement 

We acknowledge the land that the Old Fort is situated upon is the ancestral land and territory of the Nuuchiu (Ute) people who were forcibly removed by the United States Government. We also acknowledge that this land is connected to the communal and ceremonial spaces of the Jicarilla Abache (Apache), Pueblos of New Mexico, Hopi Sinom (Hopi), and Diné (Navajo) Nations.

The Old Fort and Fort Lewis College are committed to reconciling their history as a federal Indian Boarding School from 1892 to 1909.

Learn more about reconciliation

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The Old Fort is owned by the Colorado State Land Board and managed by Fort Lewis College.


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