A small club on campus is getting its hands back in the soil. After being on pause for several semesters, the Agricultural Outreach club has returned with a new purpose: reconnect students with food, agriculture and surrounding communities.
What began with small meetings is quickly growing into grassroots efforts to keep agricultural awareness alive on a campus, especially being that CSUMB is better known for its coastal views and marine science program than crop locations around campus.
After a period of inactivity, this past fall, the Agriculture and Outreach Club began replanting its roots on campus. With a renewed focus on community engagement, sustainability and hands-on learning, the club’s reboot signals a growing interest among students in reconnecting with agriculture while creating opportunities for education, service and advocacy.
The current board includes vice president Melissa Martinez, secretary Jo Fisher, treasurer Victor Martinez and club president Lydia Mattsson-Moze, an agriculture and plant science major.
“The main goal is to start gathering younger students,” said Mattsson-Moze. “Our goal is to have a bunch of kinds of assistance for each position, so there’s more involvement.”
One of the biggest challenges of the club after the reboot is attendance.“Next fall we are planning on changing from a Wednesday at 4 p.m. to a Thursday at 6 p.m,” said Lydia, “To try and fit more on people’s schedules.”
Fisher says the Inter-Club council (ICC) has provided a lot of support to the club toward facilitators and communication, including resources to advertise the club during different events at campus.
One of the most recent activities was during an Otter Thursday for Earth Week promoting the club by showing students how to make a wildflower seed packet.
Club plans include adjusting their schedule to hold meetings once a month on the first Thursday at 6 p.m. Club organizers plan to host floating meetings for guests or special events, that will also be planned once a month. One outreach for next semester will feature guest speakers from different organizations leading activities related to farming and agriculture.
“I think our outreach is going to be in conjunction with other organizations, we’ve been talking about doing a service with Everyone’s Harvest helping at their markets. Or doing a farm tour with Reservoir farms in conjunction with Young Farmers & Ranchers,” said Fisher. “We’re really gonna try to have speakers in our meetings, because it is so enriching.”