[From the ACE 199 "Farm, Food & Environmental Policy" experiential learning study tour, spring break 2015]

Today we ventured out to Sierra Orchards, Bayer Crop Sciences, Full Belly Farm, and then ended our day with a tour of the University of California-Davis campus.  At Sierra Orchards we met with Craig McNamara, who gave us a tour of his organic non-profit farm.  We learned a lot about his student education program which allows high school and college students to get hands-on opportunities in organic farming.  College students have the opportunity to rent land from Craig and his wife in a program called the California Farm Academy and start their own organic crop business.  One thing Craig stressed to our group was that every mistake is a learning opportunity.  This is important in every aspect of life, and he encouraged us as young people to look at every failure in life as a learning experience.  We were very thankful for a nice lunch provided by Craig with California Secretary of Agriculture, Karen Ross, along with our other special VIP guests Cynthia Tuck and Richard Rominger.

After our lunch we headed to Bayer Crop Sciences Biologic in West Sacramento.  Here we learned about current projects Bayer is working on and their connection with users of their products, specifically farmers.  Communication and feedback from consumers is a very valuable tool for Bayer.  We were privileged enough to be able to take a tour of their chemistry and microbiology labs and were able to see some of their top notch machinery and equipment.  Many people in our group benefited from learning about future career opportunities and what Bayer has to offer them.  It was intriguing to see how much time and effort goes into the production of these products that make agricultural producers so profitable.

Full Belly Farm is a 450 acre organic farm and has been in existence for 30 years.  Eighty different crops are raised on this farm and sold to farmers markets, restaurants, and stores in the San Francisco area.  These crops include anything from wool to strawberries to fresh cut flowers.  Fully Belly Farm is a very unique operation that strives to inform people outside of agriculture about the issues, opportunities, and benefits of agriculture.  The consumer is the priority to Full Belly Farms, and this is obvious by the activities Full Belly is involved in.  They host summer camps for children, give tours of the farm, and host a fall festival at the end of harvest to keep customers involved and informed about their operation.  Because Full Belly has been in existence for 30 years, the customer base is very secure.  Folks in the San Francisco area desire to know where their food comes from and how it is grown, and Full Belly Farm has satisfied this desire by being open and informative with their customers.  They have 60 full time employees, and most of these employees have been working on the farm for more than twenty years.  The operation was very impressive and was a great opportunity for our class to see all of the time, effort, and logistics that go into creating an outstanding business.

We finally ended our day with a tour at the University of California-Davis, UC’s main agricultural college.  The campus was very nice, and we enjoyed a dinner at a local pizzeria.  The unfortunate highlight of the night was waiting for an extra bus to arrive to return us to Berkeley after ours broke down.  We were thankful for our patient bus driver, Sonya, and all of the things she did for us on the trip like getting Starbuck’s coffee, providing bottles of water, and giving us a cheery smile at every moment of the day.  Our UC-Davis host, Georgi, was also so helpful and kind to stay until the bus departed!

As this was the last day of our trip, we were all sad to leave the warm weather and beautiful agriculture in California.  This trip was a great opportunity to see different sides of agriculture, and it has challenged us to think about our future as young agricultural leaders.  Innovation is important.  Consumer demand drives the market.  Passion will be what gets you places.