Survey Ties CSU Campus to Growers

Ventura County growers strongly believe the developing Cal State campus near Camarillo should help support the region’s $942-million agricultural industry with a range of course work, seminars and other academic programs, according to a university survey released Friday.

The survey, sponsored by a $10,000 grant from the Thelma Hansen Trust, was the latest step by university planners to craft a curriculum to help meet the educational needs of local farming-related industries.

More than 300 growers responded to questionnaires mailed last fall. They identified a need for classes in academic areas, including:

* Agricultural business and marketing.

* Computer technology and biotechnology.

* Land conservation, water conservation and soil sciences.

* Pesticide innovations and pest management.

* Crop planning and management.

“They’ve given us a lot of direction,” said Barbara Thorpe, who is in charge of academic planning for the Cal State Channel Islands campus. “We are looking toward a healthy agricultural industry in the 21st century and we hope we can help bring that about.”

University planners have been scouring the county since last year to identify educational needs and find ways to meet them.

That was part of a larger push for the new campus to build its curriculum from Ventura County’s assets, including its ever-changing agricultural industry, one of the largest in the country.

Ultimately, planners hope to piece together a complete agriculture program, both to train young growers and provide continuing education to the county’s 2,200 working farmers.

Ninety percent of the growers surveyed said they would give preference in hiring to graduates of the Channel Islands university. Thorpe said 84% of farm managers said they would give time off to employees to attend college courses, while 74% said they would pay for their workers to take classes at the university.

The courses wouldn’t necessarily be traditional college fare, Thorpe said. They could include seminars or a speakers’ series or a continuing education program.

And they would try to build on, not duplicate, courses at the four Cal State University campuses that offer degrees in agriculture--Fresno, Chico, Pomona and San Luis Obispo.

“There’s certainly a wealth of resources available within the state university . . .,” said Rex Laird, executive director of the Ventura County Farm Bureau and a key player in putting the survey together.

“It’s just a matter of choosing from the best that is available and building on that,” he said. “I’m just very excited about being able to participate in a small way on the ground floor of that effort.”

After the survey results were analyzed, university planners gathered 20 industry leaders to further explore some of the issues. Some members of that group said the campus should dedicate itself to studying larger issues, such as public policy, land use and regulatory issues and international trade.

And all agreed the campus could play a key role in helping the public better understand the industry’s role, especially in the wake of the passage of farmland preservation measures in communities across Ventura County.

“We need to know how to interface with the public, how to speak, how to write a press release,” said Santa Paula citrus farmer Richard Pidduck, who doubles as president of the county farm bureau. “Basically the sort of public relations skills that were not ever considered to be important to agriculture but sure as heck are important today.”