La Semilla Community Farm is a production, education, and demonstration farm guided by agroecology principles. The farm serves as a public gathering space using food, fun, and spirit to build community and embodies practices that restore ecological vitality, produce high quality food to address food insecurity and lack of nutritious food consumption, and improve small farm viability as livelihoods and pathways for economic security for people in the Paso del Norte region. We strive to produce the highest quality food while providing impactful youth and community programs.
At our farm, we demonstrate sustainable farming practices appropriate for the Chihuahuan Desert environment that challenge what agriculture can look like. We engage children, youth, and families in growing food and learning about where food comes from. We are proud to involve young people in every aspect of food production, from planting to harvesting and marketing. In doing so, we are building a small farm model that can inspire a new generation of sustainable farmers, healthy food advocates, and engaged community members.
While many of our education programs target youth, we offer a number of public workshops and trainings throughout the year for beginning farmers, families, and educators. Our Farm Team leads the beginning farmer agroecology fellowship, which offers a mixture of hands-on, instructional, and collaborative learning. We also host periodic school field trips, immersion programs, and civic groups.
In response to the ongoing global pandemic and in every attempt to keep our farmers, community, and food safe, large-scale farm events are postponed. Rest assured that we are still out in the field building soil health, growing nutritious food, and bridging the intersection between ecosystems and food systems.
For farm tour inquiries, please contact: farm@lasemillafoodcenter.org
La Semilla Community Farm now has volunteer days at the farm! Volunteer days take place on Tuesdays most weeks. Registration is required. You can register at this link.
If you have any questions about Volunteer Days or the Community Farm, please email farm@lasemillafoodcenter.org
Our Food & Farm Youth Apprenticeships afford interested youth and young adults with intensive education and employment opportunities at the Community Farm and with our other programs, depending on career aspirations and interests. Apprentices engage in long-term mentorship, education, and skills development. We host 2 to 4 apprentices at any given time, based on interest, staff capacity, and the availability of funding. Current and past apprentices have assisted with farm production, coordinated produce sales at area farmers’ markets, helped develop value-added farm products, and served as Crew Leaders with our Raíces Youth Program. Apprentices are provided ample opportunity to develop entrepreneurial and leadership skills, pursue their own special research project, engage with community experts and professionals, and are provided a stipend to support their efforts.
Potential apprentices must first successfully complete a session of Raíces before applying for an apprenticeship. If you have completed the Raíces program and are interested in an apprenticeship please contact us at: farm@lasemillafoodcenter.org.
Stay tuned for updates and the application for the next apprenticeship!
La Semilla Food Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization incorporated in New Mexico and Texas.
101 East Joy Drive,
Anthony, NM 88021
P.O.Box 2579
Anthony, NM 88021