Education & Training
Advocates for Urban Agriculture (AUA) is a coalition of urban farmers, community and school gardeners, individual supporters, businesses, and organizations dedicated to advancing sustainable urban agriculture in the Chicago region.
The links and pages below constitute AUA's full Urban Agriculture Resource Repository, a comprehensive, vetted collection of local resources for urban agriculture including growing practices, city regulations, funding opportunities, food safety, and business considerations.
Educational Opportunties
Quick Guide
Whether you’re looking to learn about growing your own food, continuing professional development, or starting a career in urban agriculture, the following organizations cover an incredible range of educational and networking opportunities.
If you are offering a training opportunity that you would like added to the list, please send a link with the information to outreach@auachicago.org.
-
Angelic Organics Learning Center serves prospective, beginning, and experienced farmers through training in regenerative agricultural practices, business planning, and financial manage- ment at their sites in Chicago and Caledonia, IL.
-
Bionutrient Food Association-Chicago Chapter offers grower and consumer education, provides soil interpretations and prescriptions, and hosts soil, seed, and inoculation workshops.
-
Chicago Botanic Garden leads a wide range of classes, workshops, and certification courses at the Chicago Botanic Garden and Windy City Harvest urban farm sites.
-
Garfield Park Conservatory hosts classes, workshops, and lectures on topics such as beekeeping, composting, and gardening.
-
Midwest Fruit Explorers is a non-profit organization of amateur backyard fruit growing enthusiasts that coordinates lectures, workshops, events, and more.
-
Openlands offers workshops on planning a school garden, eco-explorations for youth, and resources for teachers in developing outdoor curriculum, learning, and nature education.
-
Permaculture Chicago Teaching Institute hosts events, workshops, certificate programs, and design services for urban permaculture design.
-
Peterson Garden Project promotes pop-up victory gardens and educational resources whose primary purpose is to teach people in urban settings how they can grow their own food. petersongarden.org
Plant Chicago cultivates local circular economies and food production through education, research, and small business support. plantchicago.org
University of Illinois Extension serves Cook County by offering programming and resources around conservation, school gardens, cottage food and nutrition, and Masters courses in urban farming, gardening, and naturalism. web.extension.illinois.edu/cook
Chicago Partnership for Health Promotion at University of Illinois Chicago provides training and resources on food systems, wellness, nutrition, and container gardening. auachicago.org/resources
Urban Growers Collective offers agriculture, small business development, and equity building workshops to prepare growers to develop community food projects, commercial urban farms, and more. urbangrowerscollective.org
Many of the above organizations ofer a component of job skills training, and organizations like Chicago Lights, Chicago FarmWorks, Growing Home, Sweet Beginnings, and Sweetwater Foundation ofer workforce development for youth, and for adults with barriers to employment.mation and good practices for complying with Chicago’s composting ordinance, see: auachicago.org/resources
Lake Street Landscape Supply
1810 W. Lake St. 312-226-0760
lakestreetsupply.comMidwest BioAg
(800) 327-6012
midwesternbioag.comCrop Services International
800-260-7933
cropservicesintl.comChristy Webber Farm & Garden
2833 W. Grand Ave. 312-829-8200
cwfng.comE-Z Tree Recycling
7050 S. Dorchester Ave. 773-493-8600
e-ztreerecycling.comMidwest Organics
(312) 550-2464
compostmatters.comCowsmo Compost
cowsmocompost.com -
Plant Chicago cultivates local circular economies and food production through education, research, and small business support.
-
University of Illinois Extension serves Cook County by offering programming and resources around conservation, school gardens, cottage food and nutrition, and Masters courses in urban farming, gardening, and naturalism.
-
Chicago Partnership for Health Promotion at University of Illinois Chicago provides training and resources on food systems, wellness, nutrition, and container gardening.
-
Urban Growers Collective offers agriculture, small business development, and equity building workshops to prepare growers to develop community food projects, commercial urban farms, and more.
Many of the above organizations offer a component of job skills training, and organizations like Chicago Lights, Chicago FarmWorks, Growing Home, Sweet Beginnings, and Sweetwater Foundation offer workforce development for youth, and for adults with barriers to employment.
Ongoing Trainings
If you are offering a training opportunity that you would like added to the list, please send a link with the information to outreach@auachicago.org.
-
College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences
-
The Chicago Botanic Garden's Windy City Harvest education and jobs-training program helps to bring food, health, and jobs to the community.
-
KAM Isaiah Israel Farm & Food Forest School meets Sundays from July-August with outdoor, project based, and classroom learning in areas from food justice, to plant breeding, to water conservation.
-
Urban Growers Collective offers agriculture, small business development, and equity building.
-
University of Massachusetts hosts an online course on modern-day urban agriculture, including production methods and social, economic, environmental, and policy dimensions of urban farming.