On the UC Santa Cruz campus, the Center manages the UCSC Farm and the Alan Chadwick Garden, both internationally known sites for training and research in organic horticulture and agriculture. These facilities are organically certified in accordance with the California Organic Foods Act of 1990. Students, faculty, and researchers use both the Farm and Garden as research and teaching sites. Both facilities are also open to the public daily from 8 am to 6 pm. Since the Garden's establishment in 1967, apprentices, staff, and students have transformed it from marginal land into a productive model of small-scale agriculture and horticulture.
New greenhouses provide ample space for training in plant propagation.
Founded in 1972, the 25-acre Farm includes handworked gardens of annual and perennial food and ornamental crops, mechanically cultivated row crops, orchards, and research plots. The Center's offices, the agroecology laboratory, a solar greenhouse, and a visitors' center are among the facilities located at the Farm. Also on the Farm are the offices of the Life Lab Science Program , which develops garden-based science and nutrition curricula for elementary schools. Life Lab and the Center are currently working together to develop the Garden Classroom. Located at the Farm, the Garden Classroom will serve as a model school garden and training site for students and teachers throughout the state.