Cultivating Progress: Two new programs will train modern agriculture industry workforce

By Mark C. Anderson

That leaf of lettuce sitting on your plate looks uncomplicated enough. News flash: Getting it to your plate is far from simple. Think about it. Setting aside labor shortages and worker housing crises, if and when a head of lettuce survives drought and/or flood events, it must be carefully picked, then cleaned, cooled, chopped, packaged, stored, shipped and sold.

All of that must be tracked closely. All of that must happen very, very fast, given how quickly lettuce can go bad. And all of that can be completely thrown off in a moment by, say, an atmospheric river event. 

Meanwhile, the stakes are high — salmonella outbreak, anyone? — and able to wreck reputations and markets at the same time. In fact, the Salinas Valley is one of the world’s premier agricultural regions, with an estimated economic impact of over $8 billion per year, according to the city of Salinas.

Developing Curriculum 

Which makes it a little crazy that no powerhouse agriculture universities have assembled a course of study focusing on supply chains, even as COVID-19 chokeholds brought supply chain importance to the front of mainstream minds.

Until now. 

Read the full story in CSUMB Magazine