Names of Note: After 23 years, Ag Science Center joins up with Stan State
The National Ag Science Center, best known for a lab that travels to Modesto-area junior high schools, has come under the wing of California State University, Stanislaus.
They announced a partnership that aims to enhance linkages between educators and farm-related employers in the area. It also could increase grants to the center.
The Ag Science Center launched in 1996 with the goal of having its own building on the Modesto Junior College West Campus. That never happened, but the center did spread knowledge through the Ag in Motion trailer. Each year, it reaches about 15,000 students in Stanislaus and parts of San Joaquin and Merced counties. The center also trains teachers in how to get ag-related information into lessons.
Emily Lawrence, the center’s director since 2016, will continue in that role as a Stan State employee.
“I see overlap, a lot of opportunity to work together,” said Oluwarotimi Odeh, professor and Rolland Starn Endowed Chair of Agriculture, in a news release. “We can tap into resources they have and use connections they have already made.”
Andres Dorado, a 2018 Stan State graduate, teaches inside Ag in Motion.
“Most of these students don’t have any experience or opportunity to perform hands-on experiences in their classrooms, because many of the schools I visit do not have actual laboratories,” he said. “It’s really nice giving these students the experience of learning about agriculture and science in a hands-on setting.”
Shelter for livestock
Seven county fairgrounds, including Merced’s, now have portable pens for housing livestock evacuated during emergencies.
The California Farm Bureau Federation partnered on the effort with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, which oversees county fairs. A total of 280 pens are being stored at fairgrounds in Merced, Shasta, Placer, Lake, San Mateo, Ventura and Sutter counties.
Some have already housed animals evacuated during the Kincade Fire in October in Sonoma County, just south of Lake. They stand ready for future fires, floods and other disasters.
“We also look forward to having them used for happier occasions, such as ongoing events at county fairgrounds around the state,” Farm Bureau President Jamie Johansson said in a news release.
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