Bring the Class to Us
Welcome to the Food + Farm Exploration Center! Our mission is to educate current and future generations about agricultural innovation and sustainability through experiential learning. We strive to create a community rich in agricultural literacy and innovation through programming that will excite, engage and promote agriculture.
Our field trip experiences will give your students an incredible opportunity to connect with agriculture in an entirely new way.
Interested in visiting us with a school or group over the summer. Complete the Summer Field Trip Request Form.
For the remainder of the 2023-24 school year, we are only accepting request for afternoon (12:30 pm or later) Open Exploration Field Trips.
Field Trip Information
Exhibit Exploration Field Trips
Groups can explore the Food + Farm Exploration Center at their own pace, enjoying the Seedlings Gallery, AgStem Gallery, the Farm Tech Shed, Colorful Plate Cafe, and programming that may be available in the AgLab MakerSpace.
We request that field trips for grades preK-5 have an adult chaperone ratio of 1:5. For groups grades 6-12 we request an adult chaperone ration of 1:10.
Dig In Experiences
Want additional programming while you’re at the center? Try adding a Dig In experience! Dig In experiences are facilitated workshops that encourage learning through materials and tools, props, demonstrations and group interaction. Dig In experiences are 60-minutes in length. Participants can select from a variety of options to meet their learning objectives. Dig In experience will incur and additional fee.
Learn more about our available Dig In experience in the Field Trip Guide.
Before and After Your Field Trip
To help you prepare your students for field trips we have designed several learning experiences.
Invite a member of the exploration center education staff to visit your classroom with a school visit and do an interactive program that introduces students to the wonderful world of agriculture or select from one of our other school visit programs.
Use our lesson plans to teach your students about how agriculture impacts their lives.
In addition to these lessons and school visits, check out our STEM and literacy kits, Ag Readers and other resources that are designed to help foster an interest and love for agriculture in your students. Click on the links under the education tab to explore our offerings.
Farming For The Future Foundation Field Trip Grant
The Farming For The Future Foundation is generously sponsoring grants that will allow students to discover and explore the new Food + Farm Exploration Center. The Foundation understands that one of the limiting factors of taking students on field trips is the cost of transportation. To help schools overcome this barrier, the Farming For the Future Foundation Field Trip grant will cover up to $1,000 of cost related to transporting students to the Food + Farm Exploration Center. Applications for the grant will be accepted on a rolling basis and will remain open as long as funding is available. Interested teachers or administrators should complete the online application. Schools will be notified within two weeks if their grant application is accepted.
We are only accepting applications for the 2023-2024 school year. Please check back in late July for next years application.
