The Center for Land-Based Learning advertised its FARMS program in the Education Pavilion of the 2022 World Ag Expo. Through their colorful booth and cheerful attitude, the representatives of the organization worked to spread information about their programs to visitors of the expo.
The Center for Land-Based Learning is a non-profit dedicated to developing leaders in the agriculture industry. The organization’s CEO, Mary Kimball, explained that the purpose of the organization is to provide hands-on learning experiences and training for students that don’t have access to agricultural education or even people looking to learn new skills and work within the industry.
The FARMS program focuses on exposing students from mostly urban areas of California to various career paths available to them in the agriculture industry. The program aims to educate students and parents about the diversity and expansiveness of agriculture outside of the traditional farming and ranching jobs.
“The idea behind the FARMS program is that in a multiple-year opportunity, they get the chance to get out onto farms, ranches, wildlife areas, postsecondary institutions, ag businesses, and processing facilities. The idea is just to open their eyes,” Kimball said. “What are all of the opportunities out there in agriculture and environmental sciences?”
Students involved in the program engage with professionals in different branches of agriculture and learn some of the skills, techniques, and practices implemented in agricultural production. The hope is that expanding the horizons of these students will give them more options to consider when looking into potential career paths.
In addition to experiencing various agricultural facilities and learning the industry-specific skills involved with those jobs, these students will learn practical soft skills that will aid in their professional development.
“I’d say 80 percent of the students that we serve are really not from agriculture backgrounds,” Kimball said. “They may be in an agriculture class. We certainly work with lots of ag programs and FFA programs, but what we do is we ask the teachers that we work with to choose the students that really have not had much of an opportunity to learn about agriculture.”
Students are able to be involved in the FARMS program from their sophomore year of high school, until after graduating from college. The most consistent involvement occurs during the junior and senior years, as that time is made up of the most training and internship preparation. Kimball explained that the age range for members is 16 to 24 years old.
Towards the end of the FARMS program involvement, the Center for Land-Based Learning works with companies and organizations to line up students with internships and job shadow opportunities. One of the largest issues the organization faces is convincing these agricultural entities to take on interns. This has opened up a new position at the organization to help manage the internship interactions between the program and the companies involved.