In San Benito County, we live one step away from Silicon Valley, the world’s hub for technology development, where high-tech workers find new ways to improve our connectivity, boost our economies, and improve our livelihoods. Being California the state that feeds our nation, the agricultural sector is not left behind, and Silicon Valley’s innovators work hard to equip our agriculture with cutting-edge tools. However, technology by itself is not, and will not be enough to move our California’s agriculture to the next level in terms of productivity and environmental sustainability.
Even though technologies such as drones or automatized harvest machines have proved to increase our agricultural productivity, we know that adopting them is not an easy road. Not only high start-up costs, but also a lack of qualified labor with skills and knowledge on how to use these technologies effectively makes the road steeper. Engaging and educating youth needs to go hand in hand with technological improvements and current and future college students will have a key role in this adoption process.
An initiative that I am proud to be engaged in is the Agriculture, Water, and Environmental Technologies Program, which brings Community Colleges together to incorporate new knowledge to our curriculums. Today, Community Colleges are reaching out the private sector and knocking doors to identify the needs of the agricultural sector in terms of skills and knowledge. This will prepare our students with a tailored education to fit our agricultural sectors’ needs.
Our first goal is to reach owners and managers of companies serving the agricultural sector in San Benito County. If you work in agriculture and haven’t filled out our survey yet, please take a moment to share your perspective with us. We are collecting responses until the end of July.
Survey in English: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/sanbenenglish
Encuesta en Español: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/sanbenespanol
We appreciate the support of The San Benito Chamber of Commerce, the San Benito County Farm Bureau, and the Community Services & Workforce Development Office in San Benito County.
