Grant to Provide Students Urban, Community Ag Learning Experiences
An interdisciplinary team of Cal Poly Pomona professors has received a $250,000 federal grant to create learning experiences for students in urban and community agriculture.
The “SoCal Farm to Table: Experiential Learning and Leadership Development in Direct Marketing, Food Safety, Urban and Community Agriculture Project” will train students to be problem solvers in those areas.
“Urban agriculture is a rapidly growing sector, but urban farmers continue to face challenges,” said Aaron Fox, an assistant professor of plant science and the project director. “Food safety is a challenge for small-scale farmers who sell directly to consumers. They also may struggle with direct marketing sales.”
The Huntley College of Agriculture is uniquely equipped to develop leaders who can solve these problems. It has a Center for Antimicrobial Research and Food Safety and established a minor in urban and community agriculture.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded the grant through its National Institute of Food & Agriculture/Hispanic Serving Institutions program (NIFA/HSI).
Using the grant, the SoCal Farm to Table project will recruit students from diverse backgrounds and train them to be leaders and problem solvers in the areas of food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences.
Students will take a leadership development course, attend a Food Safety Modernization Act workshop, and shadow project partners in the government, nonprofit, and business sectors.
The project will help students connect their academic classroom experience with daily leadership roles and organizational activities. It also will provide them with mentoring and shadowing opportunities.
In addition to Fox, co-directors on the project include:
- Plant Science Professor Eileen Cullen
- Animal and Veterinary Science Professor Shelton Murinda
- Agribusiness and Food Industry Management Associate Professor Steven Archambault
- Nutrition and Food Science Assistant Professor Xu Yang
- Nutrition and Food Science Assistant Professor David Edens
- English and Modern Languages Professor Isabel Bustamante.