Our annual farm tours aim to educate our department on California’s diverse range of agricultural operations, including their production processes, challenges they have overcome, and challenges they currently face. Ultimately, we aim to build better connections with California’s agricultural industry and to cultivate new research ideas with real-world relevance that can help address the industry’s challenges.

This year's trip included three stops. The first was a visit to Wonderful Nurseries in Wasco, the largest vine nursery in North America. The second was a visit with Grimmway/Cal-Organic in Bakersfield, where we toured fields of organic carrots, potatoes, and lettuce and the largest carrot processing facility in the world. Our last stop was with Schletewitz Family Farm in Sanger, where we learned about organic fruit production from a third generation family farm that primarily services farmers markets and restaurants.