$12,000 grant will help students learn value of agriculture

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers GROWTH FACTOR—Representatives of Monsanto Company, Tyree McAlpine, left, and John Marchese, right, present Mary Maranville, education coordinator for the Ventura County Resource Conservation District, with a check for $12,000 at a barbecue in Somis Oct. 9. Monsanto Company is a Missouri-based agricultural conglomerate that has offices in Ventura County. Few people have heard of the Resource Conservation District of Ventura County, let alone know its role in our communities.

To change that, the Somis office of the state agency along with the U.S. Farm Bureau invited elected officials, farmers and community residents to an old-fashioned barbecue Friday at a 180-acre ranch in Somis.

California has 128 of the special districts whose roots go back 70 years. In 1937, the federal government established the Soil Conservation Service in response to the “Dust Bowl” crisis of the 1930s, when unsustainable farming techniques resulted in the loss of millions of acres of cropland.

Although state-run, the Resource Conservation Districts primarily rely on grants to operate. The agency offers free assistance to farmers, landowners and others in protecting, conserving and restoring natural resources.

The Oct. 9 event also offered an opportunity for the Monsanto Fund, the philanthropic arm of Monsanto Company, to award the nonprofit a $12,000 grant for its public school program “Homegrown—the Importance of Agriculture in Ventura County.”

Monsanto Company is a Missouri-based agricultural conglomerate with locations worldwide.

Mary Maranville, education coordinator for the district, developed a 45-minute course that teaches third-graders about agriculture and best practices specific to Ventura County.

“We all have a part in agriculture; we all eat,” Maranville said. “Agriculture is not only vital to our planet and vital to our existence, it’s a money-making industry.”

In volume and revenue, Ventura County is the 10th most important agricultural county in the country, said Marty Melvin, conservation district director.

Although the California Department of Education is developing K-12 curricula to teach public school students about the environment and natural resources, Maranville discovered they contain little if any information about the science of agriculture.

As a result, she developed the course, which meets several state content standards.

Educators across the county recommended the course target third-graders because of their willingness to believe what they’re taught and ability to grasp abstract concepts, Maranville said

“The kids are just loving this,” said Maranville, who has taught the free course since September at six elementary schools in Santa Paula.

As of press time, Maranville was scheduled to teach thirdgraders at Somis School on Oct. 14. She plans to teach in the coming weeks at Oxnard and Ventura elementary schools.

Maranville said her objective is to teach children how agriculture benefits people and the planet. She teaches the 7- and 8-year-olds to identify the six components of a plant—root, seeds, stem, leaves, blossom and fruit—and which parts are edible.

People usually eat the root of the onion, the stem of the celery and the blossom of the broccoli, for instance.

Maranville tries to get the children to think critically. In her presentation, she brings fruits and vegetables to the classroom specifically grown in Ventura County, such as strawberries, onions, lemons and oranges.

She’ll have a student identify Colorado on a large map of the United States, for example, and ask why certain crops grow better in Ventura County than they do there.

“The kids really love the program,” said David Luna, director of special projects for the Santa Paula Elementary School District. “She’s very good at making those connections.”

Luna said Maranville’s presentation also honors the field workers.

“The education community, we really don’t do justice to honor the workers,” Luna said. “It’s important to honor that contribution.”

Melvin, conservation district manager, grew up in Ventura County and said he remembers a time when most people here lead an agrarian lifestyle. But as the county and its cities have grown, the value of agriculture to the quality of life and the county’s economy has escaped the notice of a generation or two, he said. Some children and even their parents don’t realize vegetables grow in fields and not the produce section of the supermarket, he said with a smile.

Melvin said he expects the agency eventually to extend the course to students in other grades.

For more information about “Homegrown—the Importance of Agriculture in Ventura County,” call Mary Maranville at (805) 386-4489, ext. 102, or e-mail mary.maranville@vcrcd.org.