LAUSR

ABSTRACT This paper examines ecological farm internships and the implications for agroecology and food systems’ sustainability. Drawing on over 60 interviews with farmers and interns in Ontario, Canada, I show that internships offer hands-on learning opportunities to prospective farmers and food systems advocates unavailable through formal institutions. At the same time, many farmers rely on interns as non-waged workers to meet seasonal and labor-intensive production needs. This creates a dynamic tension where internships can simultaneously be innovative models of experiential education and unjust forms of exploitative labor. Engaging these tensions remains a fundamental challenge for the future of agroecology and sustainable food systems movements.