FARMS Program | Kern County |April 9, 2019
Participating Schools
Frontier High School
Bakersfield Christian High School
Independence High School
The good bugs are eating the bad bugs! These students witnessed this first-hand last year as part of FARMS Leadership’s tour of Bakersfield College back in 2018.
Today, they were able to see partner SunView Vineyards ingenuity on breeding these beneficial bugs! While this isn’t a new practice, it is unusual to have the breeding facility onsite. Other companies tend to buy their predatory mites from a distributor.
We spent the afternoon with Cristina Gomez, Assistant Director of Entomology at Sun View Vineyards. As part of Cristina’s duties, she manages the Beneficial Insectory.
We followed Cristina to the greenhouses. The first greenhouse was the breeding ground for the predatory mite. Cristina described how they maintain the environment for breeding. They need humid and warm conditions. We walked out to get a bit of fresh air and then headed into the next greenhouse. This greenhouse is breeding the spider mites to feed the predatory mites. We discussed the irrigation that it takes to maintain the environment as well.
Using Magnifying Glasses to Look for Mites 
Greenhouse Irrigation
Students were able to meet Marco Zaninovich, Owner and talk about FARMS Leadership and how it has made an impact on them. It was a great afternoon! Thank you, Sun View Vineyards!