We’ve all heard about foreign exchange programs that let you stay with families from other countries, but have you ever heard of an organic farm exchange program?

Well that’s exactly what WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) is: a program that gives hosts a chance to share their organic farming experience with volunteers and allows volunteers to help hosts with daily organic farming activities.

There are currently over 500 hosts in the U.S.

WWOOF was created in the UK in 1971 as a way to find help for people working on organic farms.

The organic farm hosts provide housing and food for the volunteers, who in return help them with their daily farming tasks.

In exchange for helping hosts with daily tasks, volunteers:

• Don’t have to pay hosts for their stay
• Get free accommodations and food
• Learn about organic growing and lifestyles

The volunteers not only get to travel to different states or countries, but they also get to learn about the unique eco-lifestyles of these organic farmers.

Neither the hosts nor volunteers pay each other for the experience, but there is a small fee charged by the WWOOF network to maintain the program.

The best thing is that the program is available in so many different countries, from Australia and Costa Rica to Spain and Uganda. You can see a complete listing of countries here.

If you’d like to be a volunteer you can click here, or if you’d like to be a host you can click here.

This is truly a great opportunity for students or anyone interested in organic farming to get first-hand experience from professional organic farmers. There really are so many more things you can learn in person than by reading a book or watching a television show.