In comparison to other corners of our country, Whatcom County boasts notable agricultural programs in schools, with additional extracurricular opportunities available. However, the city of Bellingham lacks some of the in school options that other towns have. Prior to making recommendations for the integration of agriculture into schools, it is important to consider what resources are already available and what in school experiences students have likely already had. That way, accessing prior knowledge will be smoother, and students will have more opportunity to build on existing skills and ideas in agricultural education.

Bellingham is home to several urban farms, some of which are accessible to students and/or the public at large. Though there are dozens of community gardens and urban food production spaces in the city, for the purposes of this project, only the student accessible farms will be examined. For primary students, CommonThreads is interwoven in every elementary school in the district, providing these younger students with garden education as well as cooking classes with the fresh produce (commonthreadsfarm.org). As for secondary students, school based garden access is more limited. CommonThreads operates garden programs at all of the local middle schools, though these lessons are less frequent than those for primary students. High school students do not receive garden or cooking classes with CommonThreads. Another urban farm that has opened its gates to students is Washington State University’s WeGrow garden. This space houses the Options High School agriculture class, in which students are learning plant science and about different facets of agriculture as an entire field. There are also a few options for students at a post secondary level, such as the Outback Farm on Western Washington University’s campus and City Sprouts Farm, which is an urban farm in the Birchwood neighborhood that works with the Center for Community Learning at WWU.

Currently, agriculture specific education in Bellingham is minimal, with the Options High School agriculture course and CommonThreads being the two main opportunities. CommonThreads is an organization that runs school gardens in all of the elementary and middle schools in Bellingham as well as many districts across the county. In addition to garden education, they also teach cooking classes for elementary students. CommonThreads provides access for public school students to work in garden spaces, thus giving them more exposure to agriculture and the associated practices. Unfortunately, as students age, CommonThreads becomes less involved, with no opportunities for high school students to participate in their programs. In Bellingham, Options High School (the public, alternative high school) does offer an agricultural science class, in which students get to work with the Washington State University extension program at the WeGrow garden. As part of this course, the students spend time planting crops and tending to them at a small urban farm. Urban farms are strong in Bellingham, and some offer their space to be used by youth. WeGrow is one example of a student-friendly urban farm, though there are many others. The York Community Farm has historically welcomed students from Explorations Academy to work in their beds and grow native plants. At the post secondary level, Western students have access to the Outback Farm, which is the campus agriculture space that is used by different courses. Another farm, City Sprouts Farm, welcomes students from the university to work as members of their crew, learning and developing their agriculture skills.

That said, Whatcom County at large does offer more substantial agriculture education, specifically through the FFA(Future Farmers of America). In order to be a part of the FFA, students must also be enrolled in an agricultural education course at their school. The districts that offer this program in Whatcom County are: Meridian, Ferndale, Mount Baker, Lynden, Lynden Christian, Nooksack Valley, and Blaine (ffa.org). It is important to note that Bellingham is the largest district in the county, yet it is the only district that does not offer students a chance to participate in the FFA. While the urban nature of the city does attribute to some of this discrepancy, the work of urban farmers in the area could be a model for future development.