In 2001, Yale students, faculty, and staff, President Richard Levin, and chef Alice Waters founded the YSFP with a focus on launching a sustainable dining program.

Responding to student demand following the establishment of the Berkeley College pilot project, the YSFP gradually added a range of opportunities for both study and practice in the field of sustainable food and farming.

Harvests from the farm are sold by students at the Wooster Square Saturday farmers market, to New Haven restaurants, and are occasionally used as ingredients for special campus events in partnership with Yale Hospitality.

Yale Professors from a range of academic disciplines use the farm for their teaching and research, and teachers from New Haven schools bring their classes for lessons in ecology, science, and food production.

Throughout the year, public lectures by guest speakers join with culinary workshops and film screenings to offer the Yale and New Haven community a chance to learn more about food and farming.

Past speakers have included chefs Alice Waters and Jacques Pepin, authors Wendell Berry, Eric Schlosser, and Michael Pollan, architect Bill McDonough, and food scientist Harold McGee.

Culinary workshops at the Yale Farm and in residential college kitchens provide hands-on opportunities for students to learn the art and practice of skills like bread making, fruit preservation, and lacto-fermentation.