Yesterday, I was walking down our driveway here at the Farm on Putah Creek, alongside our insectary hedgerow, and noticed the beautiful Redbud blossoms almost ready to open. By this weekend, they will likely be ablaze with color! It reminded me of how things are progressing here at the Center for Land-Based Learning - so many activities and programs just bursting with new growth.


Farm Academy Welcomes 4th Class

Just last week, our 4th Class of the California Farm Academy embarked on their 7-month journey. I welcomed them to the program on Tuesday, and also thanked them for their commitment, passion, time and energy...to be the next generation of California farmers. Yesterday, our Incubator farmers (beginning farmers that are leasing land from us either here at the Farm on Putah Creek or in our West Sacramento Urban Farm locations), met for the 5th time in the last month to continue planning their 2015 crops. Very soon, the cover crops will be tilled under, beds formed, and thousands and thousands of vegetable transplants will be going in the ground. Just in the last month, we have formed five new partnerships to support our Incubator Program - Orchard Hill Family Fund, Gro1000 Grant (via US Council of Mayors), Raley's Supermarkets, Nugget Markets, and Agrium. These new partnerships, along with ongoing funding from Community Business Bank and the City of West Sacramento will create more opportunities for new farmers to grow and sell their goods locally.

In addition to the great work we are doing with adults, our work with youth is expanding as well. Through a partnership with NextEd, over the next four years, the Center for Land-Based Learning will lead the Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources Industry Roundtable in the Sacramento region, where we will bring business folk together to collaborate about how to best provide high school youth with work-based learning experiences. The inaugural meeting for this Industry Roundtable will be March 9th. For over 20 years now, the Center for Land-Based Learning has been at the forefront of this work, providing California high school students (in 18 Counties!) with the experiences that lead them to understand Career and College Opportunities in Agriculture and the Food System. This work is critical to our food system: in the next five years, there will be a 30% shortage in the number of youth graduating from a 4-year college or university in Agriculture, compared with the number of jobs that are expected to be available.

I invite you to join us - come out to the Farm to see the blooming Redbuds, attend a high school career-focused field day, or help us connect youth with internships that help them develop their stills and provide our state with the needed Agricultural workforce. Thank you for your support, and I look forward to even more growth and connections in 2015.

With gratitude,