The land on which the Ignatius Farm operates has been farmed since 1833. In that year, Charles Julius Mickle dammed Marden Creek, built a sawmill on the east side of the property and continued the clearing of land that had begun in the 1820s.

The Jesuits began farming the property when they purchased a parcel of land from the Thomas Bedford family in 1913. The Jesuits founded St. Stanislaus Novitiate in the Bedford family home that was the former house of the son of Charles Mickle. This building burned down in 1954 and was located on the present site of the farm workshop and CSA offices. Construction over the years (three phases in 1934, 1949 and 1960) produced the Orchard Park Business Centre.

Incorporating, St. Stanislaus Novitiate became know as Ignatius College acting as a house of formation for Jesuits in their first four years of training. The buildings were full, and the farm provided food for the Jesuit tables. Jesuit brothers worked the farm and initiated the planting of the apple orchards that continue to this day.

In their working of the land, the Farm Community confronted the same economic and environmental challenges faced by their farming neighbours. The small-scale family farm was disappearing with the rise of large-scale industrial agriculture.

Out of this experience, the Jesuit Farm Project was born in 1985. James Profit, S.J. and Louisa Blair were instrumental in developing the Project that focused on agricultural and farm-related issues. In 2003, the Farm Project evolved into the Ecology Project whose work addresses the relationship between Christian faith and ecological spirituality.

The Jesuit agricultural tradition has continued with many ecological initiatives supported by Ignatius Farm. Perhaps best known, Community Shared Agriculture, founded in 2001. At that time, 80 shares were available and Heather Lekx worked as a full-time farmer with the help of just two interns. The CSA has since grown to a 200-share operation with a well-established Organic Agriculture Internship Program. In 2002, the CSA founded the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farming Training, a regional network of organic agriculture internship programs in southern Ontario.

The Ignatius Farm and CSA program exemplify the commitment of the Guelph Jesuits to ecological and social justice.