 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| For Immediate Release | Contact: Frances Squire |
| Nov. 6, 2009 | Phone: (559) 934-2134 |
Students in the heavy equipment program at West Hills College Coalinga get practical, on the job training, as part of their 12-week curriculum. This past week they were working on helping tear down a burned house in south-east Coalinga.
Farm of the Future—here and now at West Hills College Coalinga
In the almost 10 years since a group of farmers and agri-business leaders gathered to strategically plan for the future of agriculture programs at West Hills College Coalinga, much has been accomplished.
Richard Larson, director of the college’s Farm of the Future, and Clint Cowden, who teaches precision agriculture classes for the college outlined those changes during recent meetings of the West Hills Community College District’s Board of Trustees and Foundation.
Larson reported that there has been a dramatic number of increase in courses offerings at the farm during the past couple of years. During the 2007-2008 school year, 25 class sections were offered. Last year that number was increased to 79 with enrollment going from 239 to 612 students.
Much of the work in the ag program is being done with a US Department of Agriculture grant that was funded for two years at $250,000 per year. The funding allowed for the hiring of a new full-time faculty member, Ray Rawn, who comes to the college with more than 30 years of experience in designing and consulting about a large number of mechanical/fluid power systems within the San Joaquin Valley ag community.
Career exploration classes in ag maintenance mechanic are now being offered in Coalinga, Firebaugh, Tranquillity, Mendota and Lemoore.
A one-year grant of $54,000 from American Recovery Rehabilitation Act/Fresno Workforce Investment Board is training students for the international irrigators’ national certification test and employment.
Heavy equipment classes, long-popular at the college, has been expanded in recent years to include three dimensional machine control (3DMC) curriculum.
Welding classes are being offered and a mobile training trailer with 14 welding bays is being built on the farm. The former Pepsi delivery trailer is being equipped to accommodate shielded metal arc welding , gas metal arc welding , flux cored arc welding , gas tungsten arc welding processes. The training will be directed toward preparing students for certification in structure and pipe.
The trailer is being developed through a $180,00 Department of Labor and other grants.
Larson and Cowden updated the groups on farm production as well. They talked about almond crop yield reductions that are happening due to salinity issues and reported that commercial nurseries are supporting their research into which varieties of trees do best given Pleasant Valley soil and water conditions.
The farm also has pistachio and hay production and a student garden with much of the produce being donated to community food banks.
A small sugar beet research product is underway on the farm in cooperation with Imperial Sugar Co. The research is being conducted in the U.S. and Europe.
A range cattle inventory shows 27 head .
The Vince Motte CIMIS Weather Station went into operation the week of Aug. 10th and is now undergoing testing. Once testing is complete, the data will be transmitted to a Sacramento computer operated by the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS), a program of the Office of Water Use Efficiency (OWUE), California Department of Water Resources (DWR) that manages a network of over 120 automated weather stations in the state of California. CIMIS was developed in 1982 by DWR and the University of California, Davis to assist irrigators in managing their water resources efficiently. Efficient use of water resources benefits Californians by saving water, energy, and money.
In donating funds for the weather station, 95-year-old Vince Motte said he hopes that the station will provide more accurate readings of Coalinga temperature than the current weather station, which is located on a paved area in the downtown area.
A major building project is set to go out to bid in January for a new ag science facility that will include a new shop, irrigation well, restrooms, support buildings and infrastructure. The project is expected to cost about $12 million.
Future plans also include updating the strategic plan and setting up a production advisory group as well as continued advisory committees for vocational programs.
###
West Hills Community College District serves the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and is part of the California Community College System. Its two colleges, West Hills College Coalinga, which includes North District Center, Firebaugh, and West Hills College Lemoore, serve more than 7,000 students on campus and online each semester.