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Critical Agriculture Studies & Agroecology, B.A.
The Critical Agriculture Studies & Agroecology (CASA) B.A. at Cal Poly Humboldt combines hands-on farming experience with deep exploration of food systems, environmental justice, and cultural resilience. Students gain practical skills in agroecological methods while studying the histories and power dynamics that shape agriculture today. Whether you're passionate about land, food, health, or social change, this program prepares you to lead in creating a more just and sustainable future.
Why this Program
ROOTED IN JUSTICE
This program centers climate justice, food sovereignty, and equity, preparing students to lead agricultural change that nourishes both people and the planet.
LEARNING BY DOING
From the program farm to regional partnerships, hands-on learning is built into every stage of learning, connecting theory with soil, seeds, and community.
BEYOND THE FIELD
You’ll explore agriculture through art, ecology, history, and decolonial thought, expanding what it means to farm, lead, and imagine new futures.
Program Emphases
Explore creative and critical approaches to agricultural and ecological systems change. Connect the dots between the local and the global, revealing how art, activism and policy provide avenues for transforming lives and imagining more just futures.
Students in this emphasis area deepen their engagement with nutrition, culinary practices, well-being and cultural resilience. Explore and innovate in fields connecting land, food and healing from therapeutic horticulture and care farming, to forest bathing and community gardens.
Develop your scientific foundation for regenerative agriculture through courses in plant ecology, rangeland management, soil science and more. Students in this emphasis area gain skills to solve problems and innovate in their farming careers.
This emphasis area is a curated set of course options to expand your entrepreneurial and leadership capacities. Dive into a range of topics from marketing, grant writing, and tribal governance to the legal and policy processes essential for building sustainable businesses, developing systems for supporting diverse farmers and leading structural change.
Did you know?
The North Coast is home to one of the most vibrant networks of community farms and food justice initiatives in California. Through service learning placements, partnerships, and work on the program farm, students in Critical Agriculture Studies & Agroecology don’t just study systems change, they help make it happen. This program connects classroom learning with real-world work in food sovereignty, land access, and climate-resilient farming. Students graduate ready to lead in community-based agricultural transformation.
Careers
The B.A. in Critical Agriculture Studies & Agroecology equips students with the skills needed to thrive in today’s changing career landscape.
- Farm manager
- Food Entrepreneur
- Farmers’ Market Coordinator
- Agritourism Event Designer
- Climate Justice Activist
- School Garden Educator
- Conservation Planning Specialist
- Horticultural Therapist
- Health Equity Advocate
- Agricultural Policy Analyst
- Community Garden Coordinator
- Environmental Education Program Director
- Fiber & Plant Dye Artist