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Shaping the Future of Farming
Through a full-time, paid research and extension internship, the Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment trains students in technology-enhanced agricultural sciences, supporting and promoting sustainable food production systems.
As a land-grant university, UMass Amherst engages in world-class research and teaching—but there is a third, lesser-known pursuit that is no less critical: extension.
Landmark farm bills and other significant legislation passed by the U.S. Congress since the late 19th century enabled the establishment of UMass Amherst (neé Massachusetts Agricultural College) and other land-grant institutions. In cooperation with the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, these schools provide extension services—taking knowledge gained through research and education and bringing it directly to the people to create positive changes.
Today, UMass Amherst is a world-class agricultural school, ranking among the top schools worldwide for agricultural sciences according to the U.S. News and World Report. Through extension, our top agricultural school brings vital, practical information to farmers, small business owners, consumers, families, and young people.
Meeting the Need
The most recent jobs report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) anticipates that employer demand for college graduates with degrees and expertise in food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and the environment (FARNRE) will exceed the number of available graduates.
The USDA predicts “a renewed need for extension and outreach educators, extension specialists, and specialists in community and small business engagement.” In other words, for extension services of the future to continue supporting the nation’s farmers and food producers, the next generation of experts need training today.
To address this need, researchers from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, led by Jaime Piñero, and UMass Extension educators in the Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (CAFE)—the organization that oversees agricultural extension services on campus—envisioned a new program that would create a paid, summer internship in partnership with the UMass Extension Fruit Program. This internship would train the next generation of FARNRE experts committed to helping farmers and others maintain sustainable models of production.
Above: Caitlyn Alisauskas examines insects in a fruit tree at Red Apple Farm in Phillipston, MA.
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Supported by a grant from the USDA, the Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates (REEU) internship program has three key objectives: to provide research training to undergraduate students via hands-on applied research and technology-based experiences, to engage interns in extension activities that emphasize extension’s important role in local food systems and provide unique training experiences and professional development, and to increase awareness of agricultural research education and extension employment opportunities.
Eight paid, full-time internships are offered each summer through 2026. By bringing together a multidisciplinary team of researchers and professionals from UMass Extension, the internship trains students in technology-enhanced agricultural sciences.
Throughout the internship, students evaluate cropping systems, analyze soil health, monitor pests and diseases, manage automated weather stations, and much more. Interns design and deliver oral presentations and participate in an agri-journalism module, allowing them to develop vital communication skills—especially regarding the translation of scientific content for public consumption.
Open to All
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The REEU internship is accessible to all majors—the only requirement being that they are enrolled as undergraduate students at UMass Amherst or a community college in Massachusetts. “We really need to be focused on bringing new people in, because farming is literally what's going to feed us all,” says Zoe Robinson ’23, program coordinator for the REEU internship. “We don’t just need plant scientists,” she explains, “we also need computer scientists and economists.”
“There has been no [agriculture] program bridging disciplines like this before,” says research coordinator Mateo Rull-Garza. He recalls a former intern and political science major who wanted to understand the social aspects of farm work, focusing on farm workers' quality of life. “The fact that we’re open to all majors is an advantage to students because they have access to more opportunities,” he continues, “but it's also an advantage to agricultural researchers and extension scientists because we have a necessity to expand our focus.”
Izze Stevenson recalls how the COVID-19 pandemic pushed them to explore nature and discover a love for the environment. Originally an architecture major, Stevenson changed their major to horticulture with a business focus at the last minute. Stevenson decided to apply to the REEU internship to “push myself to try something new with research and see where this opportunity takes me.”
Interns Get Their Hands Dirty
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Stevenson has never worked in agriculture before and appreciates the many trips REEU interns take to farms and orchards. “I am learning so much about the industry through hands-on work, which is difficult to truly get in the classroom setting,” they point out.
Field trips to local farms are just one of the many ways REEU interns participate in hands-on work. Since agricultural research is applied, aimed at finding solutions to specific problems that will make agriculture more sustainable or more profitable, REEU interns are required to conduct a start-to-finish research project.
When he first came on as research coordinator during the internship’s inaugural summer in 2022, Rull-Garza said he was surprised to learn that most of the students had never even read a peer-reviewed science article. “It was my job to train them to go from ‘zero to scientist;’ a quest to transform a blank slate into a confident, empirically-driven researcher in extension.”
While the REEU internship supports flexibility in how students approach research projects, they all have their sights set on a common goal: finding a way to increase the sustainability of farming.
Above: REEU interns visit Red Apple Farm
A Holistic Approach
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Rull-Garza is keen to point out the internship’s holistic approach is designed to enable students to build relationships with farmers and food producers—relationships where researchers solve real-world problems and work with farmers to apply solutions.
“It’s not a farming internship. It's not a research internship. It's not a communications internship," he says. Rather, REEU interns experience all of these things together—a combination intended to prepare them to go out into the field and interact with the public to provide education and apply research. Community and small business engagement are central to extension, and having a well-rounded point of view and skills in communication and relationship building are critical to this outreach.
"The extension system provides a backbone for what the relationship between farmer and researcher should theoretically be," says Moshe Skoglund, a student pursuing an associates degree in the sustainable food and farming two-year program.
In high school, Skoglund attended the Shefa Internship at Abundance Farm in nearby Northampton, where he was first introduced to the possibilities of agriculture as both a career and a community. Skoglund isn't sure if he'll occupy the role of extension worker or farmer or maybe some of both, but he hopes the REEU internship will provide direction about where he fits within that community.
For Skoglund, Stevenson, and their fellow interns, a summer in the REEU program exposes them to any and all aspects related to vital extension work. The REEU internship is designed to encourage them to pursue this work as a career, helping to build a more sustainable farming community and ensuring future generations can put food on their tables.