FARMS Leadership Program: San Joaquin: October 29, 2019
Location of Field Day: Stockton, CA
Field Day Host(s) and Mentors: Kenda Templeton – Puentes Executive Director Clifton Maxwell – Puentes Farm Manager and Nursery Specialist Jessica Bryant – Puentes Urban Forestry Coordinator, Owner and Farmer of Corn Poppy Produce
Theme: Urban Agriculture
Summary of the Day:
For our first field day of the 2019-2020 school year, the San Joaquin FARMS Leadership Program visited Boggs Tract Community Farm in Stockton, CA. Boggs Tract Community Farm is managed by the Puentes organization and their goal at Boggs Tract is to connect the community with the land and help provide them with a space to grow farm fresh produce. We began our day with a tour of the farm by Clifton Maxwell, the Farm Manager. Clifton showed the students the different garden plots that can be rented by the community, the outdoor education area, the chicken coop, compost site, bee hives, and tree nursery. Following our tour Clifton lead the students in different farming activities where the students were able to get their hands dirty and plant seeds, spread mulch and create a new garden bed. The students worked for about an hour and then we took a break for lunch.
Following lunch, the students were introduced to Jessica Bryant. Jessica not only works at Boggs Tract but is also an incubator farmer and leases the land across the street which is where she has her farm Corn Poppy Produce. Jessica provides farm fresh produce to the Stockton community and sells at farmer’s markets, her farm stand, and has also done work with the local culinary program. The FARMS Leadership students helped weed her garden beds, prep beds for new crops, and plant winter crop seeds. This is where we concluded our day in Stockton learning about urban agriculture and getting a lot of hands on experience at Boggs Tract Community Farm.
Florin High School at River Garden Farms SLEWS Program | Sacramento Valley | October 29, 2019
Participating School Florin High School
Partners/Landowners Yolo County Resource Conservation District River Garden Farms
Mentors Colin Fagan, Lab Assistant, Williams Lab Dana Stokes Miles Daprato, Environmental Steward for UCD Campus Planning and Environmental Stewardship Department Nick Gallagher, Rangeland Management Specialist, USDA Ryan Bixenmann
Summary of the Day On Tuesday, October 29th, the Sacramento Valley SLEWS season began! Florin High students made the journey to River Garden Farms in Knights Landing for the third year in a row. This time, rather than planting hedgerows alongside a levee road, students gathered in the middle of a walnut orchard. Powerlines above the orchard make a strip of land unsuitable for trees. River Garden Farms saw this as an opportunity to create a corridor of native vegetation to increase biodiversity and provide habitat for wildlife and pollinators. Yolo County Resource Conservation District helped plan the project – 5 parallel rows of plants, with the outer two being mostly deergrass and the inner 3 being native shrubs and vegetation. The irrigation line was already in place, and students would be tackling the rest of the project.
After warming up with hot cocoa and breakfast, we got familiar with each other’s names with a game of group juggle. Alex Tremblay of Yolo County Resource Conservation District introduced the group to the project and the task of the day – removing flags where there would not be plants, and installing emitters and spaghetti tubing onto the irrigation line. Students divided into their mentor groups and tackled the project at hand, despite very windy conditions. Much to everyone’s amusement, the hot pink irrigation poker tools that Alex initially made fun of turned out to be the best tool for the job and were highly sought after!
Though it was windy and sometimes challenging to access the irrigation lines through the weedy overgrowth, students had incredibly positive attitudes throughout the morning and it was truly a joy spending time with them. Some mentor groups even came up with team names to stay motivated – I believe I heard one group call themselves “the Scarlet Dragons”.
After lunch, students boarded the bus to make their way to River Garden Farms’ Tyndall Mound Warehouse. Warehouse Manager Joe took showed students how they weigh and sample shipments as they head out on the trucks before leading us on a tour of the rest of the facility. The highlight was DEFINITELY the warehouse – students were able to climb and play in an enormous warehouse full of loose, unhulled, dry rice! The rice drying machine was also fascinating – rice slowly travels downward over many, many stories as airflow helps it to dry out.
We had to end the day in a hurry to get students back to school on time so we went around our closing circle to share just one word to describe the day. What was by far the most popular word? FUN!
Students get oriented to their project site during opening circle.
Alex Tremblay of Yolo County RCD shows students how to install emitters.
A wide view of our project site, in the middle of a walnut orchard!
Students brave the wind to remove weedy vegetation.
Students excitedly clamber into the rice storage warehouse.
FARMS Leadership Program:
Sacramento Valley: October
24th, 2019
Location of Field Day: Winters, CA
Field Day Host(s) and Mentors: Craig McNamara – Owner and Manager, Sierra Orchards Gus Mariani – Operations Manager, Mariani Nut Company Max Mariani – Production Manager, Mariani Nut Company
Theme: Walnut
Production and Sustainability
Summary of the Day:
The Sacramento Valley FARMS Leadership Program kicked off
the 2019-2020 program year at Sierra Orchards in Winters, CA. Sierra Orchards
is home to Craig McNamara who founded the FARMS Leadership Program in 1993. The
field day began with an introduction to the Program and the Farm followed by
activities to introduce the students from different schools to one another. The
Sacramento Valley FARMS Leadership Program is made up of students from 5 high
schools in the Sacramento and Yolo counties; Luther Burbank, Grant Union,
Sacramento, River City, and Esparto High Schools.
After the activities concluded the group headed on down the
road to Mariani Nut Company. We were greeted by Gus and his nephew Max Mariani
who work at and manage the facility. They gave us an overview of the family
owned company and then took us on a tour. We were able to see the different stages
of production from when the walnuts were dropped off in shell to how they are
sorted and processed. They sell walnuts and almonds all over the world in
different forms including in shell, sliced, whole, flavored, etc. You name it
and they probably have a market for it. The students were then able to work on
the factory line and help the quality control team sort walnuts.
Following our tour of Mariani Nut Company we headed back
over to Sierra Orchards where we were met by Craig McNamara. Craig gave an
overview of Sierra Orchards and then took the Sac Valley FARMS group on a
tractor ride tour of the property. We went out into the orchard and were able
to see the crew harvesting as well as visit the huller and see walnut shipments
come in and be sorted and dried.
Premier Mushrooms and
Colusa Industrial Properties FARMS Leadership | North
State | October 22, 2019
Location of Field Day: Premier Mushrooms and Colusa Industrial Properties Colusa, CA
Field Day Host(s) and Mentors: John Ashbaugh – Premier Mushrooms, CEO Misty Castellanos – Premier Mushrooms, Growing Analyst Ed Hulbert – Colusa Industrial Properties, CEO
Theme: Sustainability
Summary of the Day: We kicked off the 2019-2020 North State FARMS Leadership
Program with a field day at Premier Mushrooms in Colusa, CA. Premier Mushrooms employees the largest number of people within Colusa Industrial Properties (CIP) at around 230 employees. They are also operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week.
To start off the day the the students did ice breaker
activities to get to know the different students from the schools participating
this year. The North State FARMS Leadership Program is made up of 6 different high schools including Marysville, Maxwell, Yuba City, River Valley, Core Charter, and Pierce. At the end of our
final ice breaker we headed over to the property where Premier Mushrooms has their growing operations.
John Ashbaugh the CEO of Premier Mushrooms gave us an
introduction to the company. He then introduced us to our tour guide for the
day, Misty Castellanos. During our tour Misty took us into the grow houses
where we were able to see mushrooms at all different stages of production.
Since mushrooms are a fungus Premier Mushrooms plants millet seed inoculated
with the mushroom strain to grow their mushroom varieties. It takes
approximately 50 days from planting the seeds until the mushrooms are ready to
harvest. Harvest of the mushrooms last 3 to 5 days and each room will grow 2 or
3 crops that can be harvested before they have to clean the room and prep it
for another cycle.
After our tour we headed over to Colusa industrial
Properties where they hosted us for lunch. We wrapped up our field day learning
about the property and the many different businesses that it houses. Thank you
Colusa Industrial Properties and Premier Mushrooms for a great start to the
year!
FARMS Leadership | Monterey and Santa Cruz | October 10, 2019
Participating Schools:
Gonzales High School
Soquel High School
Location(s): Pura Ranch, 28531 Corda Rd. Gonzales, Ca 93926 Pisoni Family’s Estate Vineyard 34361 Paraiso Spring Rd. Soledad, Ca 93960
Field Day Host(s) and Mentor(s): Pisoni Family Vineyards
Mark Pisoni – Owner, Farmer and Vineyard Manager
Jazmin Lopez – Compliance Manager of Special Projects
Elias Gandara – Vineyard Manager
Jesus Camacho – Ranch Manager
Summary of the Day: It is the start of a new FARMS Leadership program and for our first field day, we will be with Pisoni Family Vineyards. FARMS Leadership is the first-year program for students and our focus is on career exploration in ag and resource management. Once the students arrived at Pura Ranch, ate a quick breakfast we immediately did some introductions. This is the first time students are all in the same space together. An icebreaker name game gets us out of our seats and warmed up. Students were ready for the day.
Jazmin Lopez would be our guide throughout our day and introduce students to a multitude of careers, beginning with her own. Students learned about Jazmin’s personal pathway and how and why she started at a liberal arts college, worked for the CA Strawberry Commission, became a Master Gardener and now works for Pisoni Vineyards as the Compliance Manager of Special Projects. We would see some of those special projects later in the day.
The Pisoni Family has a beautiful vegetable farm of 500 acres in Gonzales, California. Students had some hands-on experience taking soil samples and harvesting cauliflower from the fields. That cauliflower would later be our lunch.
With about a dozen heads of cauliflower, we got into our vehicles and made our way further South to Pisoni Family Vineyards the Family’s Estate Vineyard in Soledad, California. The views from the vineyard overlooked the Salinas Valley and they were spectacular. This is where we met Mark Pisoni, the owner, farmer, and vineyard manager. Mark spoke about his personal pathway into his career and gave students some very good advice throughout the day. Mark gave us a tour of the vineyard and shared his knowledge about the land and the business of growing grapes. Students were very engaged while they tasted chardonnay grapes and listened to Mark talk about how the grapevines grow and are maintained. The tour ended with a walk through the insectary (one of Jazmin’s special projects) and of course some lunch.
It was over lunch when Mark introduced Elias Gandara as one of his best employees and trusted friend. Mark stressed the importance of learning Spanish and really being serious about it and immerse yourself in the culture if you can. Communication is such an important part of being a great leader. The final piece of advice Mark Pisoni left students with was a lesson on networking. Everyone received a card from Mark after lunch with his contact information and he encouraged them all to send him an email introducing themselves and following up on the professional connection. Mark shared a trade secret with students that can be just as valuable as going to college and that is, sometimes it’s who you know in agriculture and the relationships you maintain.
Following lunch, students had a chance to learn about bees and apiary management, just another special project by Jazmin Lopez. This was a first time experience for the students and for the coordinator. The sound of the bees flying around your head is loud and filled with energy as wings buzz to and fro. The best part was learning about Jazmin’s experience keeping bees and of course we enjoyed tasting honey fresh from the hive!
Frida is testing the soil for nitrates.
Students work together to collect soil samples.
Chardonnay Grapes at Pisoni
Mark Pisoni giving students a lesson on Grapes
Mark talks to students about the importance of learning Spanish. Elias stands in the background after cooking us a delicious meal.
Students experience bees upclose
Thank you Pisoni Vineyards for such a wonderful FARMS Leadership Field Day!
Location of Field Day: Madera County Farm Bureau, The Almond Company & Creekside Farming Company
Field Day Host(s) and Mentors: Christina Beckstead, Anthony Sagariballa, Jerry Magdaleno and Jay Mahil.
Theme: Leadership activities, Almond Harvesting, Marketing, Sales and Storage
Summary of the Day: (MADERA, CA) On Wednesday, October 9th, students from the Central Valley North FARMS Leadership Program stepped out of the classroom to learn about the steps to harvesting almonds at Creekside Farming Company Inc. and learning about The Almond Company’s business. Meeting for the first time were 30 sophomore and juniors students from Firebaugh High School, LeGrand High School, and Madera South High School. The Madera County Farm Bureau provided the meeting space for the Leadership portion of the Field Day. The day started out with the designation of leadership teams and students practicing the proper handshake. Students got to know each other by interviewing and introduced each other in preparation for introducing our individual speakers and hosts. Each predetermined student interviewed each speaker of the day and introduced them to the group as a whole. Next, the group traveled to The Almond Company and were welcomed by Anthony Sagariballa, Director of Plant Operations, Jerry Magdaleno, Grower Relations and Erika Inzunza, Food Safety and Quality Control. Our students were treated to a company presentation, almond tasting, facility tour, and lunch by The Almond Company and Harris Enterprises in Madera CA. During lunch students sat with Jerry, Anthony and Erika and were also joined Maria from Human Resources. Students were able to ask more indepth questions. Finally, we ended our day with Creekside Farming. Jay Mahil, Owner met us for an in-depth tour of harvesting Almonds. Students were able to watch how Almond trees are harvested including the shaking, sweeping and picking up of Almonds. Almonds were then transferred to the truck and delivered to the processor. Our FARMS students did an excellent job asking questions and being engaged in the day.
Field Day Host(s) and Mentors: Anna Spivak, Mark Krebsbach & Brian Brower
Theme: Personality Index Quiz, Mock Interviews and Truck Driving Laws and Regulations
On Wednesday, October 2, 2019, the first field day of the Central Valley FARMS Leadership Advanced Program was held at Western Milling in Goshen CA. Here the 6 ladies from Patino High School, Central Valley Christian High School and Kerman High School participated in Western Millings Personality Index Quiz presented by Human Resources Anna Spivak. Ms. Spivak went into detail with our Advanced students on how to read the results and what type of career would fit their individual personalities. During lunch, provided by Western Milling, Mark Krebsbach, Commodity Trader and Ms. Spivak held mock interviews with our students. The ladies received first-hand experience of introducing themselves to prospective individuals in an interview typesetting. Following lunch and this short exercise, Brian Bower and Mr. Krebsbach spoke about new labor laws and regulations for truck drivers. Today was a very informational day for us all and we appreciate the team at Western Milling for taking time out of their busy schedule to teach us what is important to know about the industry and hiring process.
