‘One of a kind’ ag tech program to train 8,400 workers. How Valley counties will benefit
A new agricultural technology center at Merced College will play a leading role among eight community colleges throughout the central San Joaquin Valley to provide job training for agricultural workers in the region.
The college will be the focus of a regional Agrifood Technology and Engineering Collaborative, or AgTEC, tasked with developing classes and programs, along with Fresno City College, Reedley College, Clovis Community College, Madera Community College, College of the Sequoias, and West Hills College campuses in Coalinga and Lemoore.
At a press conference Tuesday in Merced, officials outlined how Merced College is receiving $15 million in this year’s state budget thanks to efforts by state Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Salinas. That’s in addition to $30 million from last year’s state budget.
Another $27 million is on its way to Merced College as a collaborator in the in the Central Valley Community Foundation’s Fresno-Merced Future of Food (F3) Innovation Initiative. That initiative last week won a $65 million award from the Biden administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge. The college is receiving more than $27 million from that award to serve as the project lead for the agricultural workforce program with the other seven community colleges.
It all adds up to about $72 million over two years.
The broad goal of the training is to increase the job skills of current farm workers as agriculture in the Valley moves toward greater levels of technology, mechanization and automation. The goal is to train and improve the skills of about 8,400 workers within a four-year period, providing the potential for a 60% increase in wages for those workers.
“We know here in the Central Valley that we feed the world, and those who are helping feed the world are the ones who are suffering the most,” said Chris Vitelli, president/superintendent of Merced College. “We need to contribute to the workforce, (to) the incumbent workers that are going to lose their jobs because of automation in the fields, and we need to give them the upskills they need to continue to be society-ready individuals. …“
According to information from Merced College, the new training will incorporate competency-based education that awards college credit for demonstrating needed competencies rather than mastering traditional coursework. Coordinating a uniform curriculum at colleges across the region will allow for students who work in agriculture and move among farms throughout the area to have consistency in their studies.
Tuesday’s announcement of the latest state grant took place at the college’s new Raj Kahlon Agriculture and Industrial Technology Complex, a 29,000-square-foot facility to promote collaboration between agriculture and related industries.
“The San Joaquin Valley is one of the biggest producers of food in the world, yet our communities continue to struggle with poverty and unemployment,” said Caballero, whose 12th Senate District includes the Merced area. “AgTEC provides innovation, education and training that will lead to better-paying jobs and an even more vibrant industry for our region.”
Ashley Swearengin, CEO of the Fresno-based Central Valley Community Foundation, said Tuesday that the agency has been working “hand in glove with Merced business leaders, academic leaders and community leaders since 2019 to figure out what is the future of food production in the central San Joaquin Valley.”
“We know it has to be sustainable. We know we need higher quality, more diverse jobs in this area,” Swearengin said. “There’s a connection between food production, what we do best, and what the future economy looks like that provides for more people and also ensures that we can continue to produce food sustainably in the area.”
Other partners in the broader F3 initiative include researchers at the UC Merced and the engineering program at Fresno State.
