Hosted by UC ANR South Coast REC, Cooperative Extension, and the Orange County Farm Bureau, programs that provide agricultural education to an increasingly urban population, local high schools participated in workshops at the South Coast REC that were designed to acquaint the students with ag research techniques, careers in agriculture, and the importance of urban ag and water conservation in their daily lives.

UCCE Master Gardener volunteers assisted UC staff rotating the Students and teachers between workshops focusing on basic IPM and pest identification; crop rotation strategies and hands on potato harvest, vertebrate pest management and gopher trapping demonstration; as well as safe food handling and lunch preparation.

Following the morning activities, OCFB and South Coast REC staff provided a barbeque lunch featuring potato salad and roasted potatoes prepped by the students after which all the youth and teachers had the opportunity to bag up the fruits of the labor to share with their families.

Much fun was had by all: