FARMS – Central Valley NORTH: Madera and North Fresno Counties

Agriculture the Bulldog Way

FARMS Leadership | Central Valley North | Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Location of Field Day:
California State University, Fresno
5241 N Maple Ave, Fresno, CA 93740

Field Day Host(s) and Mentors:
Dr. Susan Pheasant – Director of Institute for Food and Agriculture at Jordan College of Agriculture Sciences and Technology
Michelle Perez, Recruitment Counselor & Social Media Coordinator Liaison to Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
Rick Chacon, Assistant Director of Admissions & Recruitment
Dr. Sherri Freeman, Teacher Educator Jordan College of Agriculture Sciences and Technology
Kate Norum, Project Manager Center for Irrigation Technology Water, Energy and Technology Center

Theme: Agriculture in College

On Wednesday, February 5, 2019, the Central Valley North Field Day group that consisted of LeGrand High School, Firebaugh High School, and Madera South High School gathered at Fresno State Institute for Food and Agriculture meeting room.
Here we were welcomed by Dr. Susan Pheasant, Director, Institute for Food and Agriculture at Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.
Students worked on their soft skills by introducing and thanking our speakers. Students also practiced writing thank you and learned how to address an envelope.
Next, we were joined by Michelle Perez, Recruitment Counselor & Social Media Coordinator Liaison to Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology for a walking tour of the Farm. Next, Rick Chacon, Assistant Director of Admissions & Recruitment lead a True Colors leadership activity on Leadership qualities. At lunch, Dr. Freeman visited us and welcomed us to Fresno State. Then we visited Fresno State Water and Energy Technology (WET) Center. Here students learned about their independent testing facility. We also learned about the Center for Irrigation Technology (CIT), the independent testing laboratory and applied research facility for the irrigation industry. Finally, students were treated with Fresno State Ice Cream from the Gibson Farm Market. We had a wonderful day full of different experiences and opportunities at Fresno State. Go Dogs!

“Nothing Runs Like a Deere”

FARMS Leadership Program | Central Valley North | Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Location of Field Day:
Fresno Equipment Company
4288 S Bagley Ave, Fresno, CA 93725

Field Day Host(s) and Mentors:
Reid Pinion – Controller
Philip Christensen – Integrated Solutions Manager
Matt Miller – Sales Representative
Luke Prys – Sales
Paris Gallaher – Wholegoods Specialist
Shelley Smith – Order Coordinator
John Dias – Parts Counter Sales Person
David Fishman – Service Technician

Summary of the Day:

On Wednesday, January 22, 2020, the Central Valley North FARMS Leadership Program, comprised of LeGrand High School, Madera South High School and Firebaugh High School visited our local John Deere dealer Fresno Equipment Company. Students met as a group to touch up on their leadership introduction and thanking skills. We also discussed what they knew or would want to know about John Deere and Fresno Equipment Company on their KWL worksheet.
The group toured the large facility with Matt Mill that houses administrative staff, human resources, sales representatives, parts staff, and service technicians. During this part of the tour and throughout the day the staff kept mentioning the ways of technology in agriculture. Every person at Fresno Equipment works with some sort of computer. It was also mentioned many times if you are willing to learn and work hard to go up in the company that it was possible.
After the 45 minute rotation, the groups switched and the students participated in a ride and drive course with Luke Prys. The students drove a small tractor with a bucket. In the bucket was a ball that the students drove across the cone lined course, they then used the lever and dropped the ball into the bucket. Some students had never driven before, let alone driving a tractor. What a great skill for our students to learn.
Next we had lunch and then were joined by 4 on site staff, Paris Gallager, Shelley Smith, John Dias and David Fishman. These individuals sat with 4 different groups of students where our students asked questions and were very dialed in to what the staff was saying about their job and how they ended up with Fresno Equipment Company.
Four different students thanked each person for sharing with us and taking a little bit of time out of their busy day. Students followed the end of the day with a career assessment and finishing out their KWL worksheets of what they learned about the day. We truly had a great day! Thank you again Fresno Equipment Company for your generosity with hosting a great field day for your students.

Aquaculture Education

FARMS Leadership | Central Valley North | Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Location of Field Day:
California Department of Fish & WildLife – San Joaquin Hatchery – 17372 Brook Trout Drive, Friant, CA 93626

Field Day Host(s) and Mentors:
William Branch
Cheryl Moxley
Brian Erlandsen

Theme:
Aquaculture and Natural Resources

Summary of the Day:
Students from LeGrand High School, Madera South High School and Firebaugh High School met on Wednesday, December 11th at The San Joaquin Hatchery of California Department of Fish & Wildlife. Students met and practiced an introduction and thank you practice for use in the day for introducing our hosts. Students also learned about the end of the year Community Action Project they would need to complete as a requirement of the FARMS Leadership Program. The Community Action Project is any project undertaken by students that applies the skills and knowledge attained throughout the program to address problems or concerns in the students’ own communities. Students will present what they have contributed to their communities during the last field day in April. Next, we were joined by Cheryl Moxley who runs the FINS Program. The FINS Program is an interpretive nature trail designed to teach children the life cycle of trout. Given the slightly older nature of our group, she covered other more age-appropriate information such as native plants, grant funding information, and interpretive design. Next, students rotated between two programs with lunch provided by FARMS to split up these two rotations. The first was SCARF: A salmon restoration project for the San Joaquin River. This covered topics such as conservation, endangered species, and the science behind genetic matrix and testing. Followed by SJH: The hatchery itself, where we discussed what it takes to raise fish, plant it out, and deal with such things as water quality, biosecurity, and fish health. At the end of the day, students presented thank you’s to all of our hosts. We had a really enjoyable hands-on day. We were very impressed with what the state of California does for our natural resources. Thank you again, William, Cherly, Brian and your entire team.

All about Almonds

Program: Leadership

Region: Central Valley

Field Date: Wednesday, October 9, 2019

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.

Western Milling Labor in the Agriculture Industry

Program: Advanced

Region: Central Valley

Field Date: Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Location of Field Day: Western Milling, Goshen CA

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.

Colleges and Careers in Agriculture

Program: FARMS Leadership Program

Region: Central Valley North

Field Date: Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Location of Field Day: Fresno State

Field Day Host(s) and Mentors: Dr. Susan Pheasant, Director, Institute for Food and Agriculture

Theme: Food Science, Leadership and the WET Center

On Tuesday, April 2, 2019, students from Kerman High School, Madera South High School and Madera Liberty High School met on the Fresno State Campus for the last Field Day of the 2019 Farms Program Year. As always a student volunteer introduced, Dr. Susan Pheasant, she is the Director of the Institute for Food and Agriculture at Fresno State. She welcomed our students and the program and says we are welcome at any time. Our first session of the day took place at the Food Science building. Students participated in 3, 20-minute rotations studying dietetics, culinology and the overview of the food science program. Our second session we met back at the meeting room with Dr. Avery Culbertson where she presented to students about a leadership workshop and studying the personalities of different individuals. Dr. Avery was very pleased that our students were trained in introducing and thanking each speaker. She said, “Not a lot of adults can do this and for you, as high school students to be comfortable in doing that type of thing, shows how well trained you are”. After lunch, the students walked over to the WET Lab at Fresno State to see different tests they were performing.

Water Banking

Program: FARMS Leadership Program

Region: Central Valley North and Central Field

Date: Tuesday, March 21, 2019

Location of Field Day: Meyers Water Bank, Firebaugh CA

Field Day Host(s) and Mentors: Jason Dean

Theme: Water for Farming

Upon arrival, students ate breakfast and participated in an introduction and Thank You Presentation. Following meeting our host partners, the students watched a video on Meyers Water Bank presentation as well as a Video Display & Discussion led by Jason. We were then joined by a falconer and her 2 birds. She displayed the birds and explained how they are used in rodent control on farms and wildlife preserves. We were then taken to the actual site and enjoyed lunch and a nature walk. Finally, students participated in a hands-on student service project for Meyers Water Bank and then we closed the day with presenting Thank You’s to our hosts.

Ooooby Fresno

On Tuesday, January 15, 2019, the Central Valley North FARMS Leadership group visited Food Commons Fresno. Students learned about the history of T&D Willey Farm and how Ooooby Fresno came to be. Students worked on the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) line and packed CSA Boxes that Ooooby distributes to over 700 local community customers. Students participated in making their own marketing and social media posts. The students worked outside of their comfort zone by producing their own videos displaying the many different products inside that weeks Ooooby box. “I was very surprised how quickly the students ran with this sort of task.” Eric DeJong, Students then enjoyed lunch and visited Road 20 Farm where the students walked a muddy block 1 of the farm where they saw the operation in action. Road 20 Farm organically grows 60+ varieties of crops at one time. It was an amazing day!

Road 20 Farm

Learning about Ooooby
Getting to work the CSA line
Thank you Ooooby Fresno
Road 20 Farm
Filming Marketing Videos

Agriculture and Research

Program: FARMS Leadership

Region: Central Valley North & South

Field Date: Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Location of Field Day: Kearney Research

Field Day Host(s) and Mentors:

Theme: Research in Agriculture

On, Tuesday, December 4, 2018, the Central Valley North and South FARMS Leadership Groups consisting of Madera High School, Madera Liberty High School, Kerman High School, Clovis East High School, Lindsey High School, Hanford High School, El Diamante High School and Mt. Whitney High School participated in a joint field day at Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier CA. At the beginning of the day the leadership team prepared introductions for the days hosts. Following introductions, students were split into three groups and rotated through three topic areas. They studieds Soils such as soil quality, healthy soils for healthy crops. The second area they studied Post Harvest Quality by answering the question of How suppliers know whether or not the fruits and vegetables that I buy will be ripe and flavorful? And finally, the importance of grains, such as types of grains, whole grain nutrition and how they grow. At lunch time the hosts sat with the students and presented about their job and students asked all kinds of questions related to their work and how they got there. These questions lead to a great roundtable discussion. The hosts were very gracious with their time and answering all of the students questions. We had a great visit as always and are excited to return!

Enzo Olive Oil

Program: FARMS Leadership

Region: Central Valley North

Field Date: Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Location of Field Day: Enzo Olive Oil Company, Madera CA

Field Day Host(s) and Mentors: Jasmine Mahfoud & Vincent Ricchiuti

Theme: Olive Oil Harvest

Summary of the Day: On Tuesday, November 13th the Central Valley North FARMS Leadership that comprised of Kerman High School, Madera South High School, Madera Liberty High School and Clovis East High School. As the students arrived they enjoyed a breakfast snack, a leadership team was designated and students practiced introducing and thanking a speaker. Owner Vincent Ricchiuti and Quality Manager Kathryn Tomajan met with the students and went over everything in relation to the History of PR-Farms and ENZO Olive Oil Company. We then toured the orchard and mill, we saw harvesting, saw the mill at work, where the tanks were stored and the bottling station. At the end of our tour Enzo provided an Olive Oil Tasting. Students returned to the meeting room and participated in a teamwork cup stacking game. After lunch Vincent and Kathryn joined us again with Field Manager Brenden. We had a lovely conversation about their education, how they ended up at Enzo and what they thought about the politics of the High Speed Rail that goes straight through a piece of their land. This conversation lead to a basic round table discussion of everything under the sun. They were very courteous of our group and took their time answering all the questions we had for them. This really showed that the students were honestly interested in their day and what they were sharing with us. After our questions, the leadership team who introduced each individual thanked them as well for their time they took with us today. Lastly, the students completed a Career Self-Assessment to see where their interests lie and how true they thought they were. We had a great day at and cannot wait to return! Thank you Enzo and PR-Farms for a wonderful day!