In 2025, Maine is celebrating the Year of Youth in Agriculture, an initiative dedicated to inspiring and supporting the next generation of farmers, foresters, and agricultural leaders. Throughout the year, Real Maine will spotlight member farms and producers and their connection to youth in agriculture.
Nooney Farm is a 30-acre former dairy farm owned by the Kittery Land Trust. The property is home to a “Giving Garden,” which over the past five years has donated thousands of pounds of fresh produce to the local school lunch program, along with food pantries. Each spring, the Kittery Land Trust hosts sixth-grade students from the local middle school for a six-week farm-to-school program. The students learn about compost, how to lay irrigation lines, seedling care, transplanting skills, soil health, plant identification, and more. During the farm-to-school program, the land trust’s pantry partners visit with the students to teach them about food insecurity.
We recently spoke to Lisa Linehan, the Kittery Land Trust’s executive director, about Nooney Farm and its connection to youth in agriculture.
What does “youth in agriculture” mean to you?
Youth in agriculture is the inclusion of our youngest global citizens in the very real environmental challenges of our world. The simple act of putting hands in the earth and doing the investigations, maintenance, and care required to sustain a plant is eye-opening and life-changing. Kids are an essential part of our environmental future, so involving them in the present work of tending to our land feels essential too.
What are some ways that the farm inspires and supports the next generation of farmers, foresters, and agricultural leaders?
Experiencing the farm as a young person is such a contrast to time spent in the classroom. Not only is sensory engagement so wildly different from the classroom, but the style of learning and participation requires a varied set of skills and mindsets when working in and with a natural environment.
We focus on working together, but require individual leadership, fostering agency and decision-making in support of a collective goal. Their work is not their own but belongs to a greater mission of growing plants that will sustain us. We frequently see students who succeed on the farm that are not typical high achievers in a traditional classroom setting. Our program provides experiences to all learners, growing a generation that understands the many paths available to them, and their capacity for cultivation and stewardship of the natural world.
