The UM Campus Farm at Matthaei Botanical Garden and the Sustainable Food Systems Initiative (SFSI) collaborate with several urban farms in Detroit and Ypsilanti to offer full-time paid internships for UM students during the summer.
Application deadline extended to March 3rd, and interviews will begin the week of March 4th. Make sure you’re logged into your umich email when accessing the google form on the button below.
Internship Description
Interns will work at each of the farms/organizations during the summer based on a shared schedule that fits the needs of each host site. Interns will be involved with a variety of tasks some general and some specific to each site that supports the maintenance and growth of the farms and their programs, including but not limited to: transplant production, hoop house and field production, planting, weeding and irrigating crops, harvesting and preparation of crops for markets, produce and transplant distributions, raised bed installations, working with youth and community members and maintaining farm sites.
“Above all else, it was important for me to take a step away from theory and into practice, to get in on the ground-level of my own community and see what opportunities were available and how yield and distribution are managed practically instead of ideally. I was able to put my hands in the soil, to literally reap what I sowed, and to see the outcome, those fresh vegetables, actually get directly to people.“
-Abigail Haile, urban ag intern summer 2022
Partner Organizations
- D Town Farm in Detroit (Detroit Black Community Food Security Network)
- Oakland Avenue Urban Farm in Detroit
- Cadillac Urban Gardens in Detroit
- Keep Growing Detroit in Detroit
- Growing Hope in Ypsilanti
- Campus Farm at the University of Michigan
Impacts of the Internship
“The opportunity to work in spaces created by and for people of color as a white person has taught me a lot about my sense of purpose. The manual labor, early mornings and long days often tested my patience and I learned to become more present in order to get through rough, hot days….Under the surface, urban farms fight capitalism, climate change, hyper-individualism, America’s toxic overworking culture and inequity.
…Even though a few urban farms cannot turn things around overnight, their mere existence is a form of resistance and rebellion against a system that limits access to fresh food and the people’s sovereignty to live healthy/happy lives.“
-Kristen Sutter, PitE ’23 and urban ag intern
“The internship this summer impacted me in more ways than I could have predicted. It expanded my knowledge base in many areas including bettering my understanding of the geography of Detroit, the complexity of community engagement, the laborious nature of urban farming, and the intricacies of plants…I think the heart of this internship is beyond the ecological and farming knowledge that I now am equipped with (like plant identification, urban farming best practices, ways of approaching similar farming issues, farming inputs and outputs, tool use, etc.) – and lies so much in the interactions that I had. It is a special experience to work alongside people for a common goal in producing food and especially with people who I would otherwise not have the opportunity to interact with….I found the experience to be the most impactful opportunity I have had in graduate school.”
-Sarah Eldridge, urban ag intern summer 2022
“I’m learning a great deal about resilience and care by working with both Oakland Avenue Urban Farm and D-Town Farm on how black farmers do not sit idle while their communities and livelihoods are attacked. We push for the right to thrive, survive for self-determination.”
– Keesa V. Johnson, urban ag intern summer 2020
“Since working at D-Town and Oakland Ave Farm, I have seen first-hand the empowering nature of building community with neighbors, grassroots organizations, and volunteers to address food insecurity perpetuated by structural and historical disparities around power. These grassroots efforts, as part of the larger urban agricultural movement throughout the city, are uplifting local communities from the society’s systems of oppression.”
-Carly Sharp, urban ag intern summer 2019
“During my 12 weeks as an intern, I learned more about identifying and cultivating crops and identifying native plants than I had learned in any classroom setting. At the same time, it was validating to be able to apply my knowledge and training in ecology and evolutionary biology to plant, pest and fungal dynamics on the farm. All the while, I found that my thought process was less constrained and more effective when working with my hands and body compared to past work experiences where I dedicated my energy solely to mental processing.”
-Teal Harrison, urban ag intern summer 2018
“What strikes me the most about my experiences on the farm, is that growing food is just one component of the farm’s objective. The farm staff and everyone who dedicates their time to volunteer are growing themselves and their community in profound ways and I can’t help but grow with them.”
– Jessica Robinson, urban ag intern summer 2017
