The Lund Fellows Program for Regenerative Agriculture provides Cornell undergraduate students across disciplines with the opportunity to broaden their perspectives and understanding of natural ecosystems and to learn about ecological and social approaches to agricultural systems. 

The Lund Fellows Program provides students opportunities to gain applied experience working on an agroecological farm and contribute to the farm in meaningful and helpful ways, while learning about the process and considerations involved in managing such an enterprise.

We work to spread awareness about the value and mission of agroecological biodynamic, organic, regenerative, and sustainable approaches to farming, strengthen relationships between the university and local farms and provide assistance to small farms that could not otherwise fund summer internships. 

Host farms participating in the Lund Fellows Program were prioritized based on the following values:  

• Explicitly uses agroecological, biodynamic and/or organic farming methods
• Diversified farm (not just certified organic with industrial farming approach)
• Small-scale farm (less than 200 hectares)
• Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) farmers when possible

Position description: 

• Support the care and cultivation of the Bronx River Foodway, a series of edible landscapes along the Bronx River
• Support the identification and cultivation of public edible sites along the Bronx River
• Support community trainings and programming around topics including plant identification,  gardening, soil testing, composting, native plant cultivation, and cooking demonstrations
• The applicant would have opportunities to learn from adjacent program areas at the Bronx River Alliance including canoeing, water quality testing, and urban forest restoration

Basic qualifications and preferred experience

We’re looking for an intern able to work in the outdoors, support in-person or virtual programming. An ideal candidate may have some background in urban food systems, food production, fruit production, and/or an interest in soils, and an understanding of the climate crisis. As a community of color, candidates of color are appreciated and encouraged to serve in this position. Furthermore candidates that come with a cultural competency around racial equity are preferred.

Internship schedule

This is internship is a full-time position with 40 hours per week on-site or in a hybrid approach. 

About the farm

The Bronx River Foodway is New York City’s only edible food forest on public land. The Foodway jump-starts the imagination, reconnecting the community to use land within the city. This perennial edible landscape is integrated within Concrete Plant Park in the south Bronx and was launched in 2017. Since then, the Foodway has activated community members to engage around traditional knowledge and cultural practices, healthy food production and preparation, herbal remedies, integrating nature into arts and crafts, and strengthening community resilience. The Foodway Team, an Alliance advisory body made up of local individuals and organizations guides community activities in the Foodway and sets priorities for future activities.

The Foodway offers access to a variety of edible plants, including herb and vegetable gardens, fruit trees, and a meadow that is currently being restored to be healthy pollinator habitat. These include medicinal plants like echinacea, nut trees like the chestnut, an assortment of native berries, as well as a section dedicated to kitchen herbs and familiar veggies.

From 2022 - 2024, the Alliance is working with teaching artist Journei Bimwala to provide an introduction and interpretation to Bronx River Foodway, making the unfamiliar familiar and the familiar accessible. The collaboration will focus on community health and wellness and explore how foraging and public land access can support the management of the commons.

It will activate the Foodway and educate our community through engaging programming that correlates with the season. This work supports our community by communicating traditional knowledge and cultural practices; supporting stewardship of the Foodway; reconnecting historically excluded and marginalized communities of Black, Brown and Indigenous people back to the land; making communities aware of how to cook and make medicines for healthy body, mind, and spirit. Examples include nature therapy, food, medicine, herbal first aid, plant dyes and cordage. This partnership will also develop, launch, and assess a Community Wellness Survey in order to align community ailments with Foodway solutions such as a Foraging Guide.