CHICO — Ricardo Orellana’s journey to becoming farm director at Chico State is as improbable as it was extensive. It began in New England, where he moved from his native El Salvador to join his wife and their children as she completed her doctorate. There, a professor encouraged him to pursue a doctorate, and Orellana received his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in plant and soil sciences. (He also has an MBA from his home country and advanced degrees in rural development from universities in Chile and Honduras.)
Orellana worked to boost agriculture in Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile before returning to the East Coast — specifically upstate New York, at Cornell University — where he helped develop safety training for farm workers across the United States and Latin America. In May, he came to Chico.
Why? Connectivity. He sees University Farm as a nexus for students, particularly in the first generation to attend college; local farmers and growers; the ag industry; and the community at large.
“When I applied for this position, I thought it was a good chance to contribute to California,” Orellana said, sitting in his office at University Farm before taking a visitor on a tour around a portion of the 800 acres in south Chico. “California is the biggest state producing food in the country and around the world in some commodities, and I think what’s happening in California affects not only consumers but the economy of the agricultural industry.
“California will face a lot of problems with water, wildfires, soil health deterioration. We still have some resources, and we must take care of those resources — identifying mitigation to climate change but also some adaptation to these changes.
“Chico State University represents a huge tool,” he added, “providing this fantastic environment.”
With a working farm that also conducts research, Chico State offers that opportunity. But it needs some upgrades to meet that challenge, which leads to another aspect of Orellana’s enthusiasm.
The state has designated $18.75 million for improvements at University Farm. Highlighting the long list is a new building with space for more classes and conferences, along with a farm store and an industrial kitchen. The farm also plans to modernize — water pumps, irrigation, equipment, machinery, implements — and make structural repairs. Another prospect, in partnership with the state dairy board, is an organic creamery selling ice cream and cheese the way the university sells meat and produce raised on-site.
Thomas Henderson, an assistant professor in the College of Agriculture, noted that university administrators call University Farm “the crown jewel” of Chico State, and he concurs. It’s one of only four working farms on California State University campuses and also serves as a gathering point, with events ranging from the annual U-Pick Peaches harvest in August to the Precision Ag Day he’s organizing for a second year on Nov. 15.
“It’s such a special and unique place that allows us to diversify so much of what we do,” Henderson said. “We’re in a pretty unique spot. I love that we’re positioned this way.”
Nurturing
Jessica Toombs also appreciates University Farm. Like Henderson, she’s an assistant professor of agricultural education who began as a high school ag teacher, in her home state of Missouri. Toombs sees a key characteristic distinguishing Chico State from other institutions.
“The farms that I was a part of — as an undergrad at Missou (the University of Missouri) and as a graduate student at Oklahoma State — were very high, top-notch facilities but were research-focused,” she said. “They were very closed; if you’re not part of those research trials, you can’t tour those facilities.
“What’s kind of unique about our farm is we have some research there but are more production-minded than a lot of university facilities are, so we can open up our gates to people who want to buy meat products from us, vegetables as well. The larger facilities aren’t as available and open to the public.”
Eight hundred acres may sound like a lot of land, but as campus farms go, Chico State is on the small side. The university fits a lot in: cattle, sheep, pigs, greenhouses, row crops, orchards, aquaponics and more.
Julia Ford, a senior from the Central Valley, said University Farm offers “more than I expected” than before she started taking classes there. Her favorite spot is the shop, where she indulges her mechanical inclinations. The more time she spent at the farm, she said, “it really opened my eyes.”
Ford is working with Henderson on Precision Ag Day, when manufacturers demonstrate innovations in the field — literally. “The farm becomes a technology playground,” he said, allowing people around the north state to see things otherwise available only at large expos. The inaugural event drew 17 vendors and 240 attendees; this year, 26 vendors are coming, and the university expects a bump in attendance, too. (RSVPs will open soon.)
This is just the sort of community experience Orellana sees the farm fostering. Horizons will broaden with the new building, which will rise in the Farm Pavilion parking lot, and other elements of the modernization effort. The farm will replace older water pumps and old fans in animal enclosures and the pavilion; level off fields to improve irrigation; redo roofs on the Meats Lab, barn and sheds; and procure new tractors.”
University Farm opened in 1960, and a significant portion of the machinery dates back decades. Students and workers still use equipment from 40 years ago, which has some benefit in preparing for farms that haven’t updated their implements. But lacking newer technology leaves, in Ford’s words, “teaching an old dog the same tricks.”
Given the changing environment, Orellana said, University Farm needs to be on the forefront of adapting. So over the next few years, it will be a place with “a lot of activity but also a lot of opportunity.
“We are moving forward,” he added, “and I hope every change that we do is going to be for the benefit of the students, bring more students to the farm, bring more students to the College of Agriculture — perhaps the university — and have more connection with our community in Chico and the surrounding communities.”
Visit csuchico.edu/ag for more information.
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