Chico State University Farm: Orchards, Crops and Tours

Chico State’s Paul L. Byrne Memorial University Farm is an 800-acre working teaching farm south of town. It grows nut orchards and row crops, raises livestock and runs a farm store. Tours are by appointment only.

Checked November 1, 2026

• 800acres
• 1960founding year, per the farm page
• 70 + 75acres of almonds and walnuts, per an older unit page

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• What It Is
• Orchards and Crops
• Visiting
• Before You Go: Check These
• Questions People Ask

What It Is

CSU Chico lists these farm units: aquaponics, beef, greenhouses, an irrigation training facility, a meats lab, mushrooms, orchards, an organic dairy, an organic vegetable project, regenerative agriculture, row crops, sheep and swine. A 2020 campus story says the agriculture department moved to a ranch south of Chico in April 1960.

Orchards and Crops

The orchards unit page lists 70 acres of almonds (including a 30-acre variety trial), 75 acres of walnuts with 45 more coming into production in fall 2018, 10 acres of pecans, 10 acres of high-density olives for oil and a small U-pick peach orchard. Row crops include wheat, safflower, corn, alfalfa, grain hay and contract seed crops. That page appears to date from about 2018 and the figures may have changed.

Visiting

The farm is at 311 Nicholas C. Schouten Lane, Chico, (530) 898-6343. CSU Chico says guided tours are by appointment only, with no walk-throughs or unsupervised visits. The Jay Gilbert University Farm Store sells farm products; see our Chico State visitors guide and Farmers Markets and Farm Stands.

Questions People Ask

Can I tour the University Farm?

By appointment only, per CSU Chico.

How big is it?

800 acres, per CSU Chico.

Where is it?

311 Nicholas C. Schouten Lane, Chico.

More in Agriculture

• Agriculture Home
• Rice Country
• Richvale
• Rice and Wildlife
• Almond Country
• Walnuts, Prunes and Other Crops
• Paradise Apple Orchards
• Rancho Chico Farming History
• Chico State University Farm
• Farmers Markets and Farm Stands
• Farm Year Calendar

Sources

1. CSU Chico, University Farm: https://www.csuchico.edu/academics/college/agriculture/farm/index.shtml (checked November 1, 2026)
2. CSU Chico, University Farm crops and orchards unit: https://www.csuchico.edu/academics/college/agriculture/farm/units/crops-orchards.shtml (checked November 1, 2026)
3. CSU Chico Today, University Farm 60-year story (Nov. 2, 2020): https://today.csuchico.edu/?p=15821 (checked November 1, 2026)