NASEF Farmcraft® is a global outreach and educational program that uses the popular game Minecraft to enhance understanding of global agricultural challenges, and how farmers provide items like food, clothing, and shelter. It can be integrated into class curriculum or afterschool programs for youth ages 8-18. 

Players learn to weigh different factors in farming and understand the tradeoffs between environmental sustainability, economic prosperity, and food security. In this year’s Land Demand challenges, participants will learn about non-food uses for crops and explore how to balance those while also addressing food security needs. They will play Farmcraft® with a goal of providing residents with specified targets of food, clothing, and shelter in a certain amount of time. 

All registered participants will be provided a free license for Minecraft Education throughout the duration of the program if needed.  

Farmcraft 2025: Land Demand is divided into two main components: 

Pre-Season: February 3 - March 7, 2025: During the pre-season, lesson plans are provided to develop foundational knowledge of the learning objectives of Farmcraft® 2025: Land Demand. Within the standard (or “vanilla”) Minecraft game, participants are encouraged to research and then use their creativity to build farms and food systems using targeted prompts.

Regular Season: March 10 - April 18, 2025: During the regular season, participants are granted access to the custom Farmcraft game in Minecraft that models real-world conditions of farming, crop varieties, and food availability. Throughout the season, the participants are presented with specific challenges that teach the lesson objectives.  

Through the pre-season and regular season, the program organizers will host streaming events to provide step-by-step instruction for the game and the challenges. In addition, Food for Thought livestreams will feature experts on the topic areas sharing their experience. Students will host many of the conversations.

Akil O’Connor, a NASEF Scholastic Fellow, engages his students from Trinidad & Tobago in Farmcraft each year. He said, “As their mentor, I am bursting with pride to guide them through this international farming esports competition. It's moments like these that reinforce the essence of Scholastic Esports: combining gaming, competition, and learning. This competition not only tests gaming skills but also teaches lessons in agriculture, money management, and problem-solving.”

Another team facilitator said, “My students really love Farmcraft! They have learned a lot about agriculture and sustainable development by completing the challenges. The game also fosters teamwork. They feel excited and enthusiastic about the upcoming challenge!”

Register for Farmcraft 2025,  access all details, dates, and documents at https://www.nasef.org/farmcraft. The page will be updated regularly as new information and challenges are released.

Registration is open from December 16, 2024 to April 4, 2025. Scores from all participants who complete the regular season challenges will be used to determine several prize winners for the season, who will be announced during the awards show on April 23, 2025. 

Farmcraft is in its fifth season this year! Over the past several years, participants have been tasked with a variety of challenges that are faced by farmers, as well as learning the relationship between agricultural and environmental sustainability. The challenges and game evolve each year, making it engaging for new and returning players alike. Plus, all challenges remain available to provide a slate of options for varied  engagement. The main Farmcraft page links to the Archive for each year, so you can access all custom challenges and worlds.

NASEF partners with Cleverlike Studios for development of the Farmcraft world, as well as deep collaboration on content, lessons, and more. Cleverlike helps students become more engaged learners by completing creative assignments in their favorite video game. This also strengthens their technical skills in the software of the future which leads them to future career success.

Farmcraft is administered by the U.S. Department of State and the Network of Academic and Scholastic Esports Federations, NASEF.