Ag Literacy Program

Fresno State staff, student and alumni were among presenters at the Education Coordinating Council's "Agriculture Literacy in the 21st Century," conference in Washington , D.C. , to help ensure that no child is left behind when it comes to agriculture education.

Through the No Child Left Behind Act, the United States Department of Agriculture is reviewing gaps in educational in the Nation's largest industry - agriculture, said Lonna Torrico, Central Valley Ag Literacy Program director for the College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology at Fresno State.

Torrico, student Estefania Fernandez and alumni Maria Garcia traveled to the East Coast to give their presentation, "Investing in Our Most Valuable 'Commodity' - People," at the Nov. 30-Dec. 1 conference.

Fernandez, of Caruthers, is a nutrition major with an emphasis in dietetics, and alumni Maria Garcia, of Dinuba, is a 2003 liberal studies graduate and first year teacher at Riverbluff Elementary School in Fresno .

They discussed their personal involvement with agriculture as children of farm workers as well as how their involvement in the Ag Summer Bridge program exposed them to agriculture at a different level.

The program provides first generation college students with a weeklong on-campus experience that introduces them to university life and agricultural opportunities. The program is designated to increase enrollment and retention of Hispanic and other traditionally underrepresented groups in the fields of applied sciences and technology.

Fernandez and Garcia will also discuss the opportunities they have been afforded since the USDA-funded Ag Summer Bridge program such as internships, representatives to the Hispanic Latina Leadership Conference, activities in MANRRS - Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences, and Firebaugh and Orange Cove agricultural education programs.

As graduates of the Ag Summer Bridge program, they have become advocates for agriculture education. The Central Valley Ag Literacy Program just completed the fifth summer of the program (2004).