State Grange
Massachusetts
Agriculture Education
The Grange was founded as an agricultural organization, and we keep true to our roots by promoting local agriculture and agriculture education in communities across Massachusetts. Individual Granges throughout the state host a variety of projects and events focused on agriculture, including hosting fairs and supporting community and school gardens.
The Massachusetts State Grange provides support for the following projects and organizations:
Massachusetts 4-H:
The Massachusetts 4-H Youth Development Program helps youth develop important life and work skills through programs that focus on areas such as animal science, community service, and leadership. The Massachusetts State Grange provides support for the 4-H Ambassador Program. This program helps 4-H members develop and practice good communication and leadership skills.
More about Massachusetts 4-H can be found here.
Massachusetts FFA Association:
FFA is a student organization for those who are interested in agriculture and leadership. The Massachusetts State Granges provides funding to the Massachusetts FFA Association for awards, officer training conferences, and scholarships for students to continue their education at the collegiate level.
To learn more about FFA, visit the National FFA Organization website.
Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom (MAC):
Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom is an organization that promotes agricultural literacy among educators in schools across the state. They provide resources to teachers to help them integrate agriculture into their classrooms. The Massachusetts State Grange supports the work of this organization by providing funding for programs such as mini-grants to teachers for agricultural projects and sponsoring MAC educator conferences.
For more information on MAC, visit their website.
University of Massachusetts:
The Massachusetts State Grange assists the University of Massachusetts by providing funding for projects within the Stockbridge School of Agriculture and the Agricultural Learning Center. The Agricultural Learning Center provides a hands-on, living classroom to help students learn about the farming and horticulture industries. The Massachusetts State Grange has provided support of various programs of the Agricultural Learning Center, including the Grange Pollinator Garden and the CAFÉ Summer Scholars Program.
The Pollinator Garden provides
students with an opportunity to work with plants that attract pollinators and to learn about topics such as problems affecting bee health. The CAFÉ Summer Scholars Program provides summer educational opportunities for students that get them out into the community and give them hands-on experiences in areas such as nutrition education, sustainable vegetable production, and forest conservation.
Click here to learn more about the UMass Agricultural Learning Center.
Massachusetts State Grange promotes agricultural education through undergraduate Summer Scholars program at UMass Amherst. Click here to learn about the Summer Scholars Program.
Envirothon:
The Massachusetts Envirothon is a statewide environmental education program for high school age students. The program provides students with opportunities to research and attend workshops to learn about environmental topics. Students compete in an annual competition in which they participate in hands-on and written activities relating to the annual theme topic. The Massachusetts State Grange provides funding to assist with costs associated with the annual competition held each May.
To learn more about the Massachusetts Envirothon, visit their website.
Agriculture Education Grant Program:
The Massachusetts State Grange provides grants to local Granges across the commonwealth to implement and conduct programs that promote agriculture education in their local communities.
Download the guidelines here.