A Challenging Row to Hoe

As the last member of a pioneer farming family, Thelma Hansen’s deathbed wish was to make sure agriculture was not just a part of Ventura County’s history.

So she gave most of her fortune--$12 million--to establish a trust aimed at ensuring that farming would hold its own against suburban sprawl well into the future.

Today, Hansen’s vision can be seen at Ventura County Landmark No. 1 near Santa Paula, an old family farm where administrators of the Hansen Trust are laying plans to launch a learning center that will boost agricultural research and education.

Her vision can be seen on school campuses from Somis to Simi Valley, where the trust has helped plant about 150 gardens so youngsters can learn where their food comes from.

And it can be seen in fields and nurseries across the county, where Hansen Trust-funded research projects are helping farmers learn more about everything from fighting pests to growing bigger oranges.

“Our ultimate goal is to keep agriculture a viable industry in Ventura County,” said Sheri Klittich, program administrator for the University of California-administered Hansen Trust, which operates out of an 18-room Victorian house at Faulkner Farm.

“We don’t want to have the Hansen Trust agricultural museum here surrounded by development,” she said. “We want to use the resources of the trust not just to do the public awareness part but also to help growers stay ahead of all the challenges they are facing.”

That was the vision of Thelma Hansen, a fiercely independent old-line farmer who before her death in 1992 had grown increasingly alarmed by the rapid loss of farmland and spread of urbanization.

Born in 1898, Hansen studied mathematics at UC Berkeley before returning to Ventura County in 1921 to help on the family farm in Saticoy. By 1989, she was the last descendant of the John C. Hansen farming family. And she was writing her will, looking for a way to educate the public about the industry that had sustained her family all those years.

That’s when she struck up a friendship with Larry Yee, head of the county’s UC Cooperative Extension office. Together, they designed a trust that would address her concerns about the future of farming.

When Hansen died, she bequeathed $12 million to UC’s agriculture division. That amount has since doubled, as has the portion--about $800,000 this year--paid out to run education and research programs.

“As Thelma looks down on us today, I think she’s beaming with pride,” said Yee, whose friendship with Hansen spanned several years. “I think she would be extremely proud of all that we have accomplished with her gift. It’s much more than she even imagined at the time.”

Trust Laid Groundwork for SOAR Measure

Indeed, the Hansen Trust has made significant strides toward fulfilling Hansen’s dream.

In 1997, it funded a first-of-its-kind survey gauging the public’s attitudes toward preserving agriculture, an important document that laid the groundwork for the countywide movement that followed to save open space and farmland.

And it bankrolled a 1999 study that helped develop part of the curriculum, designed to meet the educational needs of local farming-related industries, at the emerging Cal State Channel Islands campus.

The trust in fiscal year 1999-2000 also awarded $10,000 to the planned Cal State campus so it could buy a collection of library resources on agricultural business management, marketing and finance.

“My feeling is that they play an extremely important role,” said Ted Lucas, an academic planner at the fledgling campus. “I think what they are doing, informing the public about land-use and land-management issues, is so valuable.”

One of trust’s most high-profile undertakings has been its work with schools. About 400 teachers have gone through a three-day program designed to get them to incorporate lessons about agriculture into the classroom.

Once trained, they have received mini-grants of up to $1,000 to enhance their curricula. Most teachers have used the money to start school gardens, an idea promoted by state Supt. of Schools Delaine Eastin several years ago.

About three-quarters of the county’s 190 schools now have gardens, putting Ventura County on track to become the first in the state to fulfill Eastin’s call for a garden at every school.

“We believe one of the best ways for students to learn about agriculture is to let them farm for a while,” said county Supt. of Schools Chuck Weis, a member of the Hansen Trust advisory board.

“And one of the ancillary benefits is that these programs help kids improve reading, writing, math and science knowledge--and that translates right over to test scores,” he said.

Public awareness and education is only half the mission, however.

Over the last eight years, the trust has spent nearly $750,000 to fund a range of research projects designed to keep farmers competitive.

For example, the trust is in its third year of underwriting a study aimed at increasing the size, quality and value of Valencia oranges, a crop that has been pummeled by plummeting prices.

An Agricultural Center for the Community

The trust also has funded several projects aimed at reducing pesticide risks in agriculture, including two studies hosted by Oxnard flower grower Wim Zwinkels.

“I think they do very good work,” said Zwinkels, who also sits on a Hansen Trust board that decides how research dollars are spent. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t spend my time on it.”

The next big project will be the creation of the Hansen Agricultural Learning Center, which is under development at the 27-acre Faulkner Farm.

In 1997, the trust purchased the farm, complete with the massive Queen Anne Victorian, with the idea of creating a place where farm advisors could conduct cutting-edge research and practice new growing methods.

It also was envisioned as a place where the public, especially young people, could learn about agriculture and its value to Ventura County and where community members could gather to hash out the critical issues facing a troubled farming industry--one increasingly at odds with its suburban neighbors.

Officials say it has been slow going, as proceeds from the sale of another Thelma Hansen property, needed to put the plan into action, have yet to materialize.

Still, Faulkner Farm is starting to become a focal point. Last month, the farm hosted its second annual FarmFest, a collection of educational displays, art exhibits and walking tours intended to increase the public’s understanding and support of agriculture.

And this summer, 60 local teachers are set to make the farm their base as they participate in the trust’s annual agricultural seminars.

“Eventually our goal is to make Ventura County residents feel like this is their place,” said Klittich, who has been with the program since 1994.

“I think that agriculture is in a better position because the Hansen Trust has been here,” she added. “We have been able to contribute, not just by funding programs that increase knowledge and awareness, but by elevating the level of discussion and activity.”