To help us inspire and cultivate learning for a sustainable future, we work in active partnership with many organizations and agencies. We could not do our work without them. Collectively, we can more powerfully leverage change in education systems, food systems, and more, to build a healthy and just world. This page highlights some of our long-standing partners.

Adventure Dinner
Adventure Dinner is a collaborative event company that dreams up and hosts unique food and drink experiences in unexpected places around Vermont.

Ayiti Konsè Vèt
Ayiti Konsè Vèt (AKV) or “Keep Haiti Green.” Since 2008, Shelburne Farms has partnered with AKV with the shared goal of strengthening global networks to support agricultural literacy and sustainability education, mainly through learning exchanges.

Burlington School District
Our partner in Burlington City and Lake Semester, an innovative program for Burlington High School juniors and seniors that utilizes the city as classroom. We also partner with the Sustainability Academy at Lawrence Barnes in Burlington in developing curricula and place-based connections for every grade level.

Champlain Basin Education Initiative
The Watershed for Every Classroom Program is presented by the Champlain Basin Education Initiative, a community of organizations engaged in watershed education. Current partners include: The Lake Champlain Basin Program, Shelburne Farms, Lake Champlain Sea Grant, UVM Extension, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Lake Champlain Committee, and Community Sailing Center.

Farm-Based Education Network
Established in 2006, the Farm-Based Education Network (FBEN) is a free member network created to strengthen and support the work of farmers, educators, and community leaders who provide access and experiences of all kinds on working farms. The Network's mission is to inspire, nurture, and promote farm-based education because a sustainable future hinges on understanding and supporting healthy food systems. FBEN is administered by Shelburne Farms and supported by regional groups, advisers, and founding partners.

Firefolk Arts
Founded in May of 2023, Firefolk Arts is an AAPI woman-owned, inclusive art space and gallery for collaboration and exploration, through hands-on, experiential learning and skill-sharing, which connects people of all ages and backgrounds.
Dedicated to curating culturally diverse art shows, pop-up markets, workshops and youth-led events, they uplift underrepresented artists and entrepreneurs in rural communities. This initiative is rooted in values of reciprocity, racial and economic equity, and environmental nurturance. In addition, they offer studio rental space for projects, events, office hours, and art material storage, based in Waitsfield's old firehouse on unceded Abenaki homelands.

Gedakina
Gedakina is a multigenerational endeavor to strengthen and revitalize the cultural knowledge and identity of Native American women and their families from across New England.

High School for Environmental Studies
A longtime partner school based in New York, NY whose mission is to promote environmental integrity, social equity and economic prosperity for all learners through challenging hands-on collaborative learning experiences that promote citizenship, scholarship and leadership within our community and the world at large. Read more about our collaboration.

Lake Champlain Basin Program
The Lake Champlain Basin Program coordinates and funds efforts that benefit the Lake Champlain Basin’s water quality, fisheries, wetlands, wildlife, recreation, and cultural resources, in partnership with government agencies from New York, Vermont, and Québec, private organizations, local communities, and individuals.

Lake Champlain Sea Grant
Lake Champlain Sea Grant develops and shares science-based knowledge to benefit the Lake Champlain basin.


National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) cooperates with partners to extend the benefits of natural and cultural resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout the country and world. NPS is a partner in programs including A Forest for Every Classroom. We work with Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park and the National Park Service Stewardship Institute.

Nature Connection Guide
Offering forest bathing walks in Vermont and global online programs with trained and certified nature and forest therapy guides.

NOFA-VT
The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, our partners in the Vermont FEED project.

Outreach for Earth Stewardship
Outreach for Earth Stewardship (OFES) is a nonprofit wildlife organization whose mission is to strengthen respect and understanding for wildlife through education.

PEER Associates
Our partners in program evaluation. PEER serves place-based, environmental, and informal science education organizations by helping them measure what matters, think critically about data, and take action to support their mission.

Pride Center of Vermont
The mission of Pride Center of Vermont is to celebrate, educate, and advocate with and for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Vermonters.

Shelburne Craft School
Since 1945, Shelburne Craft School has been offering hands-on education in artisanal crafts—helping individuals experience the joys of making, while cultivating confidence, character, and community.

Spoonful Herbals
A non-profit organization with mission to share joyful, hands-on education and wellness through plant medicine while honoring all our herbal traditions.

SubjectToClimate
SubjectToClimate is a nonprofit online connector for K–12 educators of all subjects to find credible and engaging materials on climate change at no cost.

Sustainability Academy
Sustainability Academy opened in 2009 as the nation’s first K-5 magnet school with a sustainability theme. Shelburne Farms works closely with teachers and staff to use sustainability as a whole-school theme.

The University of Vermont
Founded in 1791, The University of Vermont (UVM) is a flagship public research university. We partner with UVM to offer programs at the undergraduate and graduate level, including the Education for Sustainability Graduate Certificates.

U.S. Forest Service
The mission of the Forest Service is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The Green Mountain National Forest is a partner of programs including A Forest for Every Classroom.

UP for Learning
UP for Learning helps educational institutions across the country fully engage youth in their own learning and in reimagining and transforming education. Our partners in programs including Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability.



Vermont Farm to School & Early Childhood Network
We're a statewide Network providing leadership, coordination, and advocacy to advance new and existing farm to school efforts in Vermont classrooms, cafeterias, and communities. We're farm to school advocates, practitioners, and educators across the state.

Vermont FEED
Started in 2000, Vermont FEED (Food Education Every Day) is a collaborative farm to school project of two organizations: the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT), and Shelburne Farms Institute for Sustainable Schools.

Vermont Fresh Network
The Vermont Fresh Network is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 1996 with the mission of advancing relationships among farmers, chefs, and consumers to grow markets and eat more locally grown food.

Vermont Land Trust
Rooted in Vermont since 1977, they have protected more than 620,000 acres of farmland, forestland, and community lands, covering over 11% of the state. Much of this land is privately owned and contributes to our abundance of local food, maple and timber products, tourism and recreation, and the vitality of our towns and villages.

Other Affiliates
These organizations help us care for our working farm and forest in support of healthy local food systems.
- American Tree Farm System: They currently certify our sustainable woodlands management plan.
- Heritage Landscapes has developed long-term management plans for some of the property’s cultural resources, including the landscape and formal gardens.
- Humane Farm Animal Care: Through HFAC, our dairy is certified humane, a certification that is renewed annually.
- Lake Champlain Land Trust: LCLT holds shoreline easements along Shelburne Farms, and we jointly offer programming on the natural history of Lake Champlain.
- Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont: They certify our Market Garden as organic.
- Preservation Trust of Vermont: PTV holds façade easements on several of our historic buildings.
- Vermont Family Forests: We’ve been members since 1998 and continue to follow their strict sustainable forest management guidelines, although they’ve discontinued their certification program.
- Vermont Farm to Plate Network: We are proud sponsors and members of the Network.
- Vermont Fresh Network: As a member of VFN, we promote locally grown produce in our restaurant, and we collaborate on VFN’s farm-to-table programs.
- Vermont Land Trust: VLT holds agricultural easements on most of our prime ag land.