Strathmore High School’s ag program has big plans

Strathmore High School’s (SHS) Agriculture Program could see some big changes over the next few years.

This past year, Porterville Unified School District (PUSD) purchased two plots of land, totalling around 20 acres, the largest of which is a short walk from the SHS campus. The 16-acre plot sits just to the west of the high school, while a 4-acre plot adjacent to Harmony Magnet Academy was also acquired. Both pieces of land will be used by Strathmore’s ag program.

Danell Daniel, who heads the Strathmore ag program and spent 12 years as a key com- ponent of Granite Hills’ program, said the land acquisitions would increase student accessibility.

“It can be kind of a hassle to get out to the farm we are using right now,” she said.

Strathmore’s current student farm sits on the other side of Highway 65, just to the south of The Orange Works on Avenue 196.

Students are usually transported by bus, which at times can be problematic.

On Sept. 30, Strathmore ag students were scheduled to meet with professionals from the companies Exeter Irrigation and Landmark Irrigation to observe the installation of probes that measure moisture content in soil. However, this day coincided with Porterville college’s (pc) High School Senior Day, which saw the majority of PUSD buses shuttling some 1,200 students between their high schools and PC’S campus.

John Buckley, principal at Strathmore, said he had to call the superintendent of neigh---

boring Strathmore Union School District to obtain buses just so the students could make their appointment with the irrigation companies roughly a mile down the road.

“It’s going to be great when we can say ‘c’mon, let’s go to the farm’ and it’s right next door,” Daniel said.

Even though plans for what will be built on the new pieces of land are still in the early developmental and propositional phases, officials at the school are already excited about what the purchase means.

“We have a superintendent and school board that are very involved in trying to build ag up in the district and prepare kids for college and a career in agriculture,” Buckley said.

He said the new farm’s potential for student instruction is exceptional. “We still refer to it as a farm because it is a farm, but we like to refer to it as an outdoor learning laboratory.”

On Oct. 1, the Strathmore principal presented to PUSD’S Board of Trustees potential uses for the district’s new land. Among the ideas proposed were animal units [pens], plant-

ing crops and trees, storage units, shop classes, science labs, aquaculture areas, hydroponic units, a greenhouse, a composting area, and labs for biotech tissue cultures. The list even went on to include an equine riding arena and farmers’ market.

Daniel said she favored a combination of traditional ag amenities combined with new practices. Specifically, she said she favored a fully functional research lab or classrooms out on the new farm.

“We have too many professionals tell us if we researched about ‘x’ or started a study about ‘y’ that they’d be interested

in seeing what we did,” she said.

As grandiose as some of the suggestions sound, Buckley and Strathmore’s ag advisory board are confident that whichever direction the district takes, the students and ag industry will ultimately benefit.

“When you listen to our [ag] advisory board, you hear how much the industry has changed over just the past five years,” Buckley said. And the educational practices that prepare students for a career in ag probably need to change with it, he added.

“The science has just changed so much [in re-

gard to] how farmers do things,” Buckley said. To illustrate this, he pointed to a lesson from Edward Blocher, south valley district manager for Exeter Irrigation, who recently showed students how his company’s high-tech probes can measure soil moisture.

Blocher’s grandfather, a Central Valley farmer, used to attempt to determine moisture content by just digging with a shovel and giving the dirt an “eye and touch” test.

“A lot has changed,” Buckley said. “There so much technology in farming now.”

PUSD Board of Trust-

ees member Pete Lara said he favored Buckley’s description of the farm as a learning laboratory.

“We need to start establishing that kind of culture,” he said. “That (the farm) is functional but also a learning environment.”

Buckley said he would be open to sharing whatever facilities are built with other school’s ag programs and expected universal involvement from area FFA programs.

“Agriculture is such a broad and diverse field,” he said. “We need to be open-minded in how we prepare our students.”