OC Farm Bureau Supports Next Generation of Agriculturalists
By Melissa Serrato
The Orange County Farm Bureau is establishing roots to build a pipeline from the classroom to industry for Fullerton College horticulture students and graduates. The OC Farm Bureau generously awarded the Friends of Fullerton College Foundation with $151,800, which will be used to provide scholarships, internships, and develop a program that will guide students from the classroom to the workforce.
The gift to Fullerton College will be used to invest $71,500 in an endowment for horticulture scholarships, will match and double the Fullerton Garden Club Scholarship for horticulture, and will be used to support horticulture graduates with internships and research opportunities, said Foundation Executive Director Zoot Velasco. In addition, more than $13,000 will be invested in a new apprenticeship program.
“We are so grateful to the OC Farm Bureau for investing in Fullerton College students. Their generous donation plants the seeds for future leaders in our local agricultural industry,” Velasco said. “They understand that by supporting our students, they are investing in the vitality of a localindustry that is inherently challenged by urban development and shrinking land availability.”
Several members from the OC Farm Bureau presented the Friends of Fullerton College Foundation and the Horticulture Department with a check in June 2022.
“The farm-to-jobs horticulture career pipeline we are helping to fund at Fullerton College is an innovative program. It combines three great elements: student scholarships, student ag work stipends, and horticulture job placement. OCFB is thrilled to support this program with our gift of $151,800; our largest gift to be donated in 2022,” said OC Farm Bureau Executive Director Casey Anderson.
Over the past four decades, as commercial agriculture and available land to farm in Orange County has shrunk, the focus of the OC Farm Bureau Board of Directors has shifted to support the next generation of farmers through financial support of agriculture education. To that end, in the last six years, OCFB has donated more than $2.2 million to establish agriculture education endowments, scholarship programs, and student agriculture work stipends to create opportunities for young people from Orange County who are interested in careers in agriculture, Anderson said.
The Horticulture Department at Fullerton College is one of the leading community college horticulture programs in California. The program provides a variety of approaches to hands-on learning for students interested in transferring to four-year agriculture, horticulture or plant science programs; to those who would like to pursue a career in sustainability and the “green” industry; to landscape employees, and homeowners. Students in the program can earn Associate of Arts and Associate of Science degrees in nursery management, landscape management, and ornamental horticulture. Two-year certificates are also available in greenhouse and nursery production, landscape design/management, landscape irrigation, and pest management.