The Environmental Horticulture Program provides our students with experiential learning opportunities within a progressive curriculum, linked with internships and community service, to instill the awareness and skills necessary for developing productive futures.
This program has one full-time instructor and four associate faculty. We have seen increasing student enrollment, industry interest and collaboration and advisory committee involvement steadily for the past sixteen years. With over 2500 employers in Northern California and ten times that on the west coast, the demand for our students and alumni far outstrips our ability to produce them. Many students enter the workforce prior to completing the program. This fact sometimes leads to problems with enrollment in �capstone� classes, even though annual enrollments average over 450. We currently offer several avenues of education for our students. These avenues are: Certificates of Achievement - Environmental Horticulture, Nursery Technician, Landscape/Turfgrass Technician, and Crop Protection. We also have an Associate of Science Degree - Environmental Horticulture. We are actively creating an A.S. Degree in Viticulture & Winery Management and Certificates of Achievement in Vineyard Management and Winery Operations. The Viticulture and Winery Operations courses were approved by the Chancellor�s Office and are ready for scheduling in future semesters, once the AS degrees and certificates are submitted in spring 2018. The need for irrigation technicians and engineers in California has tripled in recent years due to impending retirements and decreased resources, coupled with higher demands on those resources. We are partnered with other community colleges through California Agriculture Teachers Association (CATA), working on the development of a two new Irrigation Technology Certificates-Beginning and Advanced, with the creation of additional irrigation technology, auditing, and CAD courses. We reviewed the certificate proposal at the Mid Winter Conference in December 2017 and approved it to move forward. Anticipated availability is Fall 2018. Courses currently exist, at Butte, in EH, AGS, DFT, and others to meet the requirements. This situation is similar to the increased need for PCAs (Pest Control Advisers) and CCAs (Certified Crop Advisers) seen in recent years. The additional courses to the Crop Protection curriculum have allowed our students to sit and pass Department of Pesticide Regulations State PCA and CCA exams. These successful students are accepting great internships and jobs all over the west coast in Environmental Horticulture and Production Agriculture. Our EH 66, Orchard Production and Management course, was offered in the fall semester 2017. A new fruit and nut tree orchard, in the old Organic Garden area, is in the planning stages and will assist in having quality on-campus laboratories for this class. EH 62 Weed Science and Invasive Species is being offered for the fourth time this semester, Spring 2018, and is now taught face-to-face. Another new course, EH 23 Fall Plant Identification was offered in Fall 2017 with high success and retention. Many of those students are back, currently enrolled in EH 24 Spring Plant Identification. We host four active clubs on campus. The Environmental Horticulture Club is the oldest club on campus. The Western Heritage and Agriculture Association is a three year old club now. This year we started a Beekeeping Club to meet the extreme demand for knowledge about bees and their very necessary roll in agriculture, conservation and sustainability. The demand is so strong that we will move forward with re-kindling our Beekeeping class. Justin Edson, an EH/AGS Associate Faculty member is advising the Butte College Agriculture Ambassadors and bringing new energy and commitment to it. Our transfer rate has been steadily increasing each year. We have sent students to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, U.C. Davis, CSU, Chico, CSU, Fresno, CSU Humboldt, University of Florida, University of Oregon and others. We are currently conducting research projects in the nursery system in collaboration with CSU, Chico College of Agriculture and Butte College Biology students and staff. Our student surveys have concluded that research is high on their list of objectives. Retention is high, considering the industry demand, as a result of strong efforts to create a sense of place and camaraderie in the courses and within the clubs that we advise and promote. Hard work by our faculty and technicians to establish and maintain a beautiful and welcoming area helps to hold students here even when they have no classes. This strong sense of place and belonging is fostered by everyone in the program. The Environmental Horticulture Club is one of the most populated and active clubs on and off campus consistently participating in many community service projects year round.
Most of the latest Program Review recommendations have been implemented. We are continuing to work on adding more irrigation technology classes and certificates as this area of industry is in strong need of trained technicians. Currently, we are partners with California Agricultural Irrigation Association, California Landscape Contractor's Association, Irrigation Association, California Farm Bureau, several irrigation equipment manufacturers, educators throughout California, and many local industry partners to train students to fill the demand for technicians.
We are moving forward with the Viticulture/Enology and Landscape Irrigation Technician degrees and certificates, at least the parts of it that are in our control. At our last Advisory Committee meeting , there was unanimous support to complete that program as originally envisioned. If cooperation is given, we can have that entire program, complete with three certificates, in place by this fall. We were also given the green light by the Advisory Committee to complete our Hydroponic Greenhouse and the class to teach its operation. We are working on finishing the electrical installation as funding becomes available, and the course will be written soon. Students have high interest in this type of operation as it is becoming more useful and recognized world-wide. You can produce high quality food and a good income without the need for quality real estate and soil. This class will be full immedietely upon its offering.
These portions of the program are artially on hold awaiting the completion of our Departmrnt of Agriculture and Environmental Svciences farm Plan.
We are actively working on tying our courses, instruction and programs to the necessary re-building and construction work required in Northern California following the devastating fires that we have witnessed and been affected by over the last two years. Since many trained personnel will be needed to complete this work, we are consulting with our industry partners to be sure that we are providing the training that they want our students to achieve.
We are also reviewing our course offerings and sequencing to achieve the best efficiency within our programs, without watering down the overall content.
Strategy 1 - Hire a full-time tenure track faculty member
In the spring of 2018, we hired two full time tenure track instuctors for our entire Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Department. Both of these new folks were split between several of our programs. One of them has now resigned, leaving us in a lurch. The second new hire instructor is carrying an 84% load in her second semester. so we are barely ahead of where we started last year.
We need high priority to replace the individual that left, so that we can have the next instructor up to speed and in place before the start of the 2019-2020 school year.
AGS 20, Plant Science, currently has a total four sections offered each semester. There could be at least one more section added. Currently, we do not have faculty available to staff another section. Most qualified faculty are teaching two classes of overload per semester. We have experienced too much turn over with Associate Faculty in these classes. Consistency is lacking.
AGS 51 Fertilizers and Plant Nutrition is critical for our CCA and PCA students and is an easy fill. Robert Landry has taken on this class and all the Soil Science classes, with the relief from the Agriculture Business classes ( new hire for Ag. Business). That individual left, so we scrambled to cover his classes in oreder to avboid cancelling them. Robert has full load without going back to teaching Ag. Business.
It is difficult to acquire and retain qualified associate faculty with an agricultural background in areas of animal science, soil science, crop science, plant science, environmental horticulture and plant protection.
The one full time faculty in Environmetal Horticulture has had to shift teaching load to classes that were not going to be staffed with qualified associate faculty and move the associates we have into classes that they have not taught before. We are making due, but with stress at all levels.
At present we offer only what is necessary to maintain our program at a minimum, and we significantly under-serve the CSU-transfer student population (in particular, animal science majors), yet our three full-time faculty members who teach in ag science have an annual teaching load greater than 150%, plus the load from our associate faculty. To allow our faculty time for curriculum development, managing industry relationships, mentoring students, and the many other responsibilities in a CTE program, it is imperative that we hire an additional full-time faculty member.
A growing component of our program is in ecology of pest and disease and plant nutrition and soil science. With the increased demand for state-licensed Pest Control Advisors (PCA), ag biologists, and Certified Crop Advisors (CCA), we are constantly looking at our curriculum to meet the needs of California's #1 industry, which is agriculture.
Strategy 2 - Reinstate Ag Staff Technician positions to 100% contract
Increase the Agriculture and Environmental Sciences staff positions (Farm Manager, Environmental Horticulure Technician, and Farm Shop Mechanics) all to 100%, 40-hour work week contracts and pay.
Agriculture does not stop at 5pm or take weekends off. It is critical that our Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Department staff members get their salaries and work time increased to 100% since their services are critical to the success of the faculty, students, and entire Agriculture and Welding Departments. When equipment breaks down, staff mechanics must be available to fix and maintain it, so classes and labs can use it.
The Environmental Horticulture Technician helps to set up laboratory exercises, procures materials and maintains inventory to support the labs, along with having the duties of maintaining the greenhouses and nursery. She supports many activities across this campus that are not part of our course schedules as well.
The Farm Technician/Manager works to maintain the farming operations, outside of what the students can accomplish during lab work. His work helps to keep our field laboratorioes in good condition and available for quality 'hands on' learning for our students. He is also tasked with much of the maintenance of our Wildlife Refuge, especially the riparian corridors.
These are the key support personnel that allow our departments to continue to run smoothly. Faculty don't have the luxury of switching lab activities at the last minute because a piece of equipment is down or crops were not planted, irrigated, fertilized, or sprayed.
We all have to pay the price of inconvienence and lost learning opportunities as a result of their reduced work contracts.
They have to pay the price of deteriorated morale, smaller pay checks and decreased retirement benefits.
Strategy 3 - Upgrade and Install new Greenhouse and Storage Facilities
Update and expand greenhouses, storage facilities, and upgrade lab supplies which improve student learning experiences in the EH Department.
Agriculture and horticulture are applied sciences and require scientific equipment that is current and meets the needs of industry standards (e.g., measuring vessels, microscopes, and grafting tools). Our requests for a new greenhouse, heaters, benches, and irrigation systems come from the fact that our facilities are approximately 40 years old and need to be replaced. While we do have functional greenhouses currently in use, they are not running at an efficient level and do need to have improvements made to keep them running. They provide an income stream to support our program and help us be more self-sufficient, but are not contributing to sustainability since they are so outdated and inefficient energy-wise.
Our greenhouses are all over forty years old or are hand-me-downs that were well used when donated to us. A new polycarbonate greenhouse would be more energy efficient and meet the standards of the modern nursery industry for educating our students.
We were prioritized for Perkins funding of a new greenhouse last fall, but this has not come to pass yet, so I am leaving this in for 2019-2020.
Several of our equipment storage buildings are in bad need of new roofing. They leak when it rains which exposes tens of thousands of dollars worth of valuable equipment and tools to damage or degradation. We need roofing materials to make the necessary repairs. The main equipment building is accessible to owls and rodents wjhich drop feces all over our equipment and the floor. This situation is very unsanitary and a definite health and safety problem.
Most of the nursery/greenhouse benches are so old they are falling apart and need to be replaced for continued production values to be sustained and to allow for a better educational experience. We have replaced some, but need to do more.
Strategy 4 - Increase the supply funds for equipment, vehicles, and consumables
Provide for accessibility and improve program quality for all students in the EH Department.
Our request for vehicles and portable toilet/sink station comes from the need to support our students who are conducting lab activities throughout the campus. There are no restroom facilities on the outskirts of the campus core where many of our field laboratories are, so students have to be shuttled back to use toilet facilities, having our own restroom station would eliminate downtime during on-the-farm labs.
In the event we have students with physical disabilities, we need to have a farm vehicle to transport these students around the farm, to the vineyard, and other remote or hard-to-access points on campus. We believe in providing a superior lab experience for all students, no matter the disability or location or terrain. The aquisition of our Yamaha Viking VI ATV is assisting transportation to and from our remote labs immensely.
We could still use a portable, trailered field toilet and sink, especially at the vineyards and mandarin orchard to maximize comfort and site use hours. Some of the EH tools and equipment have reached the end of their useful lives. Many are in need of significant repairs, which justify simple replacement, since they are being used to train students in their use. Student and staff safety is our #1 responsibility, followed by training with modern equipment and technology.
The Ag Department is one of the few programs that can generate funds through its farm-inclusive curriculum. By providing modern equipment, the farm can generate additional dollars for the Ag Department, which maintaining important connections to current ag industry practices through hands-on work experiences in classes and lab settings.
We have a need for improvements to and construction of:
1. The Historic Building (equipment storage, covered lab area),
2. The greenhouses
3. The storage sheds, known as Lefts 1 - 6 and Rights 1 - 6
4. New orchard
The need for vehicles come from the fact that ag faculty need to use the Ag van during the week for lab trips, and the van is regularly in use by three ag faculty. Two of the six fulltime faculty have a commercial driver's license for driving the current 15-passenger van, so it would be appropriate to request funding for a 12-passenger van and a new pickup truck so all of the faculty can use a van or truck for field trips instead of depending on the pool of vans in Facilities, and this would reduce the congestion placed on the one van currently in place.
The Agriculture Department has six clubs (Agriculture Ambassadors, Environmental Horticulture Club, Friends of the Refuge, Agriculture and Western Heritage Association, Beekeeping/Apiary Club and Heavy Equiopment Club) which use the van and truck for off-campus field trips and conferences and having transportation is critical to the success of these club activities. Many of the trips are for recruitment to high school agriculture and FFA programs, and the Agriculture Department will be applying for Student Equity funding to increase the diversity of our current student population (e.g., African American, Asian, and Hispanic students). Many times we tour ag facilities who insist that we accept donated plants, and having a new ag truck would be useful to haul supplies and materials to labs.
A request for an additional ATV comes from the number of disabled students entering our program and the fact that we may have multiple labs occuring at the same time. We plan on working with the Butte College Veterans Office and Brian Shobe of the Farmer Veteran Coalition to apply for Student Equity funding and a USDA grant to secure resources to encourage and recruit US veterans to the Ag Department. Having improved transportation and recruitment materials will increase our chances of increased diverse populations at Butte College (e.g., veterans, African Americans, Asian, and Hispanic students).
Strategy 5 - Conference and industry meeting participation
All of our students benefit when our staff and faculty participate in current industry meetings, inservices, and conferences. Three of our staff hold required applicator's licenses which must be renewed every two years, and these staff must attend mandatory training to keep up these licenses. Two of our faculty hold PCA and CCA licenses which also must be renewed every two years.
It would be to the benefit of the department and college as a whole to have faculty participate in data analysis training and software purchase, have the data tools, and expertise to use these tools, to conduct meaningful program reviews, unit planning, and implement Student Learning Outcomes.
We also could increase student numbers and enrollment across disciplines with our recruitment activities to gain FTES.
EH Department staff need to attend agriculture industry conferences, meetings, and inservices to maintain currency in their disciplines, classrooms, and labs. With the ever-changing needs and technology of industry, it's critical to the success of our students that all staff are current in their disciplines.
As researchers and scientists, there is tremendous opportunity to learn more about our student population, their majors, their backgrounds, and potential recruitment sites, and connect that information to careers and funding opportunities. Having the additional research tools, training, and data analysis software will helps you construct a narrative and interactively share findings in ways colleagues and decision makers can readily understand and act upon.
Strategy 6 - Facility Support by Student Workers
Our nursery and greenhouse system, along with our large and diversified field crops laboratories need consistent management and labor. Faculty and classified staff can take care of the management, but need additional labor to accomplish these needs. Student workers need to be paid to drive out here and devote their time for these needs. We need some student assistant money for that purpose. These budgets used to exist and were constant until the budget cuts ten years ago. We always put our student assistants on work experiences which also generates FTE for the district.
The duties and tasks that need to be performed on a daily and weekly basis throughout our system of living laboratories cannot be ignored during weekends and holidays. Somebody needs to take care of them. We need more student assistant money to hire those individuals.
Our request for additional funding to expand our student assistant program with work-study or other financial assistance. We do require the use of student help to run our programs, and it is an extremely valuable learning experience for our students to receive hands-on management experiences.
As mandatory minimum wages have increased the last couple years, our static funds have not been able to cover our needs.
Strategy 7 - Replacing mechanic or technician
One of our ag mechanics retired last year. With programs expanding, there is a need for full staffing in this area.
We currently have only two mechanics working to cover Automotive, Heavy Equipment, Ag, and Welding. We have added HVAC, Construction and Advanced Manufacturing which will increase the need for another mechanic.
EH 26 (Landscape Planning and Design, EH 38 (Greenhouse Production) and EH 74 (Irrigation System Design) would benefit from the use of a computer lab during the crop scheduling exercises and the design exercises. Use of CAD software would allow successful students to attain valuable and sellable skills that are required for these jobs. This would enable all students to be on their specialty software programs at the same time for more efficient use of instruction.
The number one request of our industry partners and Advisory Committees is to expose students to 'Precision Agriculture'. These instruments, sensors and applications, even if donated, need computer lab space to teach them and the computers need enough software bandwidth to run them.
As our Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Department programs expand, we have experienced some minor difficulties finding classrooms in which to teach.
We do make some money with the plant sales from the nursery operations. This will increase as the expansion area out back between the treeline and back shade area gets filled with inventory or custom grows. The completed expansion will double our effective production values. This process has been ongoing for many years and we have had to complete this with volunteer labor, donated materials and meager funds as they became available. Any monies made from the income account go right back out to support materials, equipment and student assistant labor to keep this department afloat.
The District budget allocated from year to year has never met the needs of this program. We have used Perkins funds, along with the District funds to get us through about 4/5ths of each year. We have calculated the enology classes and wine sales could provide additional revenue to our program, making it a self-sustaining program and have changed from organic to sustainable practices in the vineyard to increase yield, thereby increasing revenue.
A couple years ago, one of our students asked his landscape maintenance clients to donate to a vineyard tractor fund and a Foundation account was started with those monies, however not enough money was donated to buy a tractor, so it remains there. We will pull all that money out very soon.
Our industry partners have previously wanted to host a fundraiser for the winemaking program in years past, which we feel would reap great benefits, however this program has not come to fruition yet. When we submit the Viticulture & Winery Management AS degree this spring, perhaps this can be done next fall.
Our staff continues to pursue grant opportunities, but full time faculty are in double overloads and have many other time consuming duties which make grant writing very stressful.
We were succesful at attaining an industry donation of plant material and potting media a couple years ago, but cannot rely on these donations to support the hands-on activities required of our classes.
We anticipate decreased plant sales the next few years due to the Camp Fire. Many of our best customers were Paradise, Magalia and Concow residents.
| Original Priority | Program, Unit, Area | Resource Type | Account Number | Object Code | One Time Augment | Ongoing Augment |
| Description | Supporting Rationale | Potential Alternative Funding Sources | Prioritization Criteria | |||
| 1 | EH/AGS | Personnel | $0.00 | $109,877.00 | ||
| Hire a new EH/AGS faculty member | We need to maintain core programs and services (e.g., Soils instructor, academic advising). Finding part-time faculty is very difficult so to maintain consistency and continuity in our program, a new hire is vital. Bruce Hicks is retiring and we weren't given a hire due to him having a year of banked leave. Our students are going to suffer without fundamental courses such as Soil Science and Plant Nutrition. |
|
|
|||
| 2 | EH | Personnel | $35,000.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Restoring all staff members in the Agriculture Department to 100% funded positions. | The four classified staff that support all of the agriculture programs and labs, along with many cross-campus duties, have not been restored to full salaries since the cuts ten years ago. This has detrimental impacts to morale as well as unavailability of those staff certain hours per week as they don't get paid to be here all week. Many times, we need their help and expertise when they are not here. This leads to frustration of faculty and loss of student learning and success in many instances. |
|
|
|||
| 3 | EH | Facilities | $57,000.00 | $0.00 | ||
| roofing and wall materials | The roofing, walls and ceilings on the Historic/Equipment Building is leaking badly and it needs two new rollup doors. About $100,000 worth of equipment, vital to our program, is stored within and is being damaged. We also have a family of owls and some squirrels that live in the building crapping all over our equipment. Faculty, staff and students have to deal with this unsanitary condition on a weekly basis. The condition of this building and the lack of other storage for our valuable equipment is causing degradation to that equipment. When the equipment is in filthy condition or does not operate when the students need it, their learning is inhibited and our programs suffer. We are embarrassed by the condition of this facility and hate for students and off campus visitors to see it. We are forced to continue to use this building as we have no other storage. I have repeatedly asked for help from Facilities to make the necessary repairs, with no positive response. This would be my highest priority for either District augmentation funds or Strong Work Force monies. |
|
|
|||
| 4 | EH | Personnel | $0.00 | $20,000.00 | ||
| Increase number of paid student assistants | Farm and EH lab activities require the support of students for setup, in addition to farm, shop, and EH staff. There isn't enough time to go around to assist with all of the purchasing, pickup, and setup of labs, so increasing our paid student work force would not only assist our staff, but would provide valuable work experience opportunities for our ag majors. |
|
|
|||
| 5 | EH | Personnel | $24,000.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Professional Development: Conference and industry meeting participation | All of our students benefit when our staff and faculty participate in current industry meetings, inservices, and conferences. Three of our staff hold required applicator's licenses which must be renewed every two years, and these staff must attend mandatory training to keep up these licenses. All three of our faculty hold either PCA and CCA licenses and two of our technicians also hold QAC licenses which also must be renewed every two years. It would be to the benefit of the department and college as a whole to have faculty participate in data analysis training and software purchase, have the data tools, and expertise to use these tools, to conduct meaningful program reviews, unit planning, and implement Student Learning Outcomes in ag science. Ag Department staff need to attend ag industry conferences, meetings, and inservices to maintain currency in their disciplines, classrooms, and labs. With the ever-changing needs and technology of industry, it's critical to the success of our students that all staff are current in their disciplines. Conferences and meeting supplies include CATA ($6000), CAPCA, PAPA, and DPR ($5100), JMP ($3200), FarWest Trade Show ($2200), and ASHS ($5700). |
|
|
|||
| 6 | EH | Equipment | $2,200.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Portable/trailered toilet and sanitation station | Due to the lack of restroom facilities at the vineyard and mandarin orchard, we need a portable toilet and sink station for student use during weekly labs. Several classes use the vineyard and orchard throughout the year. |
|
|
|||
| 7 | EH | Equipment | $26,363.00 | $0.00 | ||
| State-of-the-art irrigation management equipment for the farm operations | Since sustainability is so important to us and our future water resources are in question, it makes sense to be able to train our irrigation technicians on the newest water management equipment. It also fits in nicely to curriculum upgrades and demand for experienced water managers for industry. |
|
|
|||
| 8 | EH | Equipment | $64,000.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Vehicles (truck and van) | The need for vehicles come from the fact that ag faculty need to use the Ag van during the week for lab trips, and the van is regularly in use by three ag faculty. Three of the six full-time faculty have a commercial driver's license for driving the current 15-passenger van, so it would be appropriate to request funding for a 12-passenger van (specifically a 2017 Ford Transit 12 person van $34,000, as per quote from facilities) and a new pickup truck so all of the faculty can use a van or truck for field trips instead of depending on the pool of vans in Facilities, and this would reduce the congestion placed on the one van currently in place. |
|
|
|||
| 9 | EH | Facilities | $78,560.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Equipment and supplies storage buildings (the Ls and Rs storage) | These old facilities need new roofing, electrical, outlets, lighting, and shelving. Our programs use a lot of different and expensive equipment and tools which must be protected from weather and theft. |
|
|
|||
| 10 | EH/AGS | Equipment | $14,600.00 | $0.00 | ||
| AirBlast (packblast) sprayer | This is a foliage-applied pesticide sprayer that would be used for multiple crops and in multiple classes in both AGS and EH. As an industry-standard for safe equipment use, calibration, and application, an addition of a new (and functional) airblast sprayer would compliment our program, provide students with practical experience, and improve our efforts in plant protection in the mandarins, vineyard, and hopefully upcoming replacement fruit and nut orchard. |
|
|
|||
| 11 | EH | Operating Expenses | $18,650.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Trade show booth | The Butte College Ag Department is invited to recruit and demonstrate at various trade shows, field days, and conferences. With the current need for increasing FTES, we need to update and create a new, modern recruitment booth that will aid in presenting our degrees and certificate programs to students and the general public plus allow us to sign up and track interested leads. Items in this request include two iPads and lead capture apps, banners, tabletop display, signs, literature displays, badges and name tags, tablecloths/tableskirt, flags, backdrops, projector, monitor, transport cart, prize wheels, portable tent, carpet, promotional items with department and Butte College logos, staff shirts, hats, and jackets. |
|
|
|||
| 12 | EH | Personnel | $85,000.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Hire a mechanic or additional technician to replace the retirement of an Ag Mechanic in the spring of 2018 | Last year one of the Ag Mechanics retired, and that position has yet to be replaced. This has left the remaining two with the responsibility of covering Automotive, Heavy Equipment, Agriculture, and Welding. All of these programs are expanding, and other programs such as HVAC, Construction, and Advanced Manufacturing are being added. This has resulted in an incredible amount of work for the remaining employees. The remaining mechanics have worked very hard to adequately support the programs they support, but there are not enough hours in the day to keep the aging equipment in these programs up and going without additional support. |
|
|
|||