The COVID-19 pandemic posed remarkable challenges for California’s farmers and ranchers in 2020. Abrupt shifts in demand caused by restaurant and school closures and a jump in meals prepared at home forced producers to pivot to respond to these market shifts and many farmers experienced significant losses as a result.

At Farm Credit West, we are focused on the future of agriculture and actively seek opportunities to support the next generation of leaders through educational scholarships. Since 1994, Farm Credit West has proudly provided $989,500 to 266 scholars. Scholarship recipients are provided with $1,500 scholarships which can be renewed three times for a total of $6,000.

After leaving the Air Force in 2012 with a service-connected disability, Robert Barnett was looking for a new career when he fell into farming by accident by gardening at his family’s home in Ventura, even though “it was years before I could grow something,” he recalled.

Farm Credit West recently announced the award of $24,000 in scholarships to sixteen high-achieving students enrolled full time in colleges this fall. Farm Credit West joins our local communities in celebrating these exceptional students, as they achieved academic excellence while navigating unprecedented challenges as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic and corresponding shut-downs.

Agribusiness students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will have additional funding for student projects in the years to come after Farm Credit donated nearly $255,000 this year to create an endowment fund for the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences.

Recently, the National 4-H Poultry and Egg Conference was held in Louisville, Ky., earlier this month. The conference included a range of contests including the Avian Bowl, which tested contestants’ knowledge of exhibition, husbandry, anatomy, and several other poultry-related subjects in a game show-like fashion.

The Farm Credit Alliance was recently presented with FFA’s Distinguished Service Citation for its longstanding contributions to FFA and agricultural education. Katie Otto, development director for the California FFA Foundation, the state organization’s fund-raising arm, said the California FFA nominated Farm Credit for the award because of its generous and enduring support.

Latinos have been the largest ethnic group in California since 2014 and make up an even larger portion of the population in many of California’s farming regions. To support the entry of Latinos into agriculture, the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will hold the fifth-annual Latino Farmer Conference in November.

Once a niche product, organic farming is the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. food industry. In fact, organic food today is a nearly $50 billion industry, employing 1.4 million people nationwide and more than 400,000 in California alone, according to the California Certified Organic Farmers Foundation (CCOF).

For 25 years, the Center for Land-Based Learning has provided hands-on education and workforce development opportunities to high school-aged youth and beginning farmers. With its current facility bursting at the seams, Land-Based Learning recently held a ground-breaking ceremony for its all-new home outside of Woodland and Farm Credit is proud to help make it possible.