Meeting & Agendas

Pati Jacobs – Owner at Bastrop cattle company Sue Beckwith – Exec Director of TCLF (Poultry Farmers in Page, TX) James Rodriguez – USDA NRCS Agent for Travis County - Urban Conservative Region 3 (New) Edwin Marty – Food Policy Manager – City of Austin Office of sustainability Finegan Farbust – Owner at Steelbow Farms (New) Becky Hume – Owner/Operator at VRDNT Farm in Bastrop Savannah Rugg – Chair of Agriculture Science Department Matthew Olson – Farm manager – Agriculture Science Department Andrea Hood – Program Assistant – ACC Elgin Hunter Eichman – F/T Professor (New) (fulltime faculty)

Hunter Eichman – Professor (New) fulltime faculty

Presentation of Farm Updates •Matthew – farmers market now in session each Monday. Choices were restricted and the best date was on Monday. Donations of left-over produce taken on Tuesday mornings. This also results in the day selected to have the market. •Donations – Elgin Community Cupboard is where the produce is delivered on Tuesday morning. •Completed the first sale of funds and posted to the ACC funding account. •Culinary school purchased produce. •Various varieties of veggies being planted on farm •4-quadrants in the mini high tunnel •Sheep assessments completed with Angelica Pati – how many sheep? Matthew – 12 hues Should the sheep be donated to an animal sanctuary? Pati - will some be kept for breeding Matt - keeping 5; sending 5 to Pati - are you working with vet tech regarding the sheep Matt – directly and in directly Pati – donating 5 of the sheep. Can this be something that can be worked into an incubator program. Matt – yes definitely open for discussion Position has been filled for the senior lab assistant position •Future – •Expanding into a 4th acre in order to rotate and •Add potential farmers market •Always receive inquiries about how the general public can help? Finegan – what kind of tracking system are you using? How are you processing this to the students? Matt – using excel for the crop planning. Farm assistants are always inclusive of the farming decisions. Finegan – TEND is a resource that can be used for planning & tracking Pati – spell it? Finegan - explains that it’s a subscription and everyone on the farm can see and update what can be done on the farm; everyone can follow along. Finegan - How is it incorporated with the students? Savannah - the small-scale students are being incorporated into the growing area when it comes to crop planning. Edwin – farmers markets at other acc campuses? Any connections regarding resources that are available to the students for those students in need. This could be another way to donate. Contact “Paula” who can assist with getting the farm donations to the pantry. Savannah - these conversations are already being had and they are moving forward with getting things set up Sue – Matt great job; Savannah great job; welcome to the new faculty. She has to jump off and will jump back on after her appointment. Wanted to be sure to say thank you for the work being put forward. Request to send all attachments to the shared folder for future reference. •Have 3 farm assistants helping •Summer projects – utilized this time to focus on projects; to allow purchase and payment of produce •Pulled up and discarded black plastic weed guard; spread compost & mulch; fixed irrigation for high tunnel; cut down cover crop and planted pumpkins – a pumpkin patch is growing. Focused on keeping Pati – are the grapes table or wine grapes. Matthew – these were previously planted and he thinks they are red table grapes Pati – what’s in the orchard? Matthew - Asian pear tree; plums; apples (didn’t do well); peach trees. Finding resources for the assistance with the orchard. Pati – anyone going to the fruit conference in New Brumsfeld – can meet the main people from A&M Sue - Should do persimmons but not plums because of the short life in them. can meet the main people from A&M Pati – any other questions

•Savannah – brief program update… •What has been going on over the past year. 2018 – 2019 •2-degree programs were developed by Savannah (AS in Agriculture Science & AAS in sustainable Agriculture) •Developed curriculum for 12 credits •Scheduled 1st semester of classes fall 2019 2019-2020 •Two new credit Agriculture courses developed •One adjunct hired •Both programs fully accredited •Two more adjuncts hired 20-21 2020-2021 •Continue ED conversion pathway •Extended opportunities in Agriculture grant for an additional year to 8/22 •First three graduates from program graduated in spring 2021 •All 14 new courses developed and taught once since the initiation of department •Partnered with Texas state university, U of Texas RGV, South Texas 2022-2023 •Hired farm manager •Donated produce from ACC sustainable •Hired first full-time faculty to increase more offerings •Three grads in fall 21, six graduates •One student trans to Texas state and received STARTEC scholarship •Enhanced internship program by expanding partners •12 students received scholarship funds •3 recipients already graduated Pati – how much are the scholarships Savannah – it almost covers the total cost if student is in the district •Course enrollment – not accurate but wanted to share the total enrollment •Future plans •Weekly farmer market •Partnership w/ culinary department

a. Should there be specified tracts? Forage & Pasture Management Vs. Integrated Pest Management b. Small Scale Farming Curriculum vs Intro to Agribusiness Curriculum c. Does Marketing of Agricultural Products need to be included if we have Intro to Agribusiness? •Revise current sustainable Agriculture AAS degree plan •Development of an Agriculture drone certification program - A new manager of the drone certification has been hired •Develop additional internship opportunities for our students Pati – a lot on the plate; get into the highlights you (savannah) wanted to discuss •Advisory committee helps to advise on curriculum to see if it meets Agriculture standards are met Pati – Who does program Savannah – homestead Pati – CE is being used for overall skillsets

•Savannah – showed a viewing of the degree details and will forward a copy after the meeting. Pati - Vague vs. flexible •Does it make more sense to remove a course and/or make it optional? •Opening the discussion for more input Matthew – can get input from students on what they want; what they are looking to accomplish; Finegan – potentially wanting to make two tracks? A production? Soil production? Livestock production? Are you wanting a more CE? Savannah – wants to do more research for input ithecb.state.tx.us – need more time going through the availability. Pati – plenty of land but none affordable enough for the new/younger farmers. Likes the idea of a two-tier track.

•Finding additional members Pati – what is the ultimate number on this committee Savannah – there should be maximum 10 people; remember Nicole Wagner w/Texas State. Pati – room for one more person but the current group is a good group.

•Schedule next meeting – •November meeting to discuss Sustainable Agriculture to track or wait until January? Pati – they can connect with savannah if and whenever needed; Wednesday afternoons 1-3pm in January 18th •Presented the draft to the committee and sending it out to feedback in an email thread. Just respond to the email thread – curriculum to be completed by the end of the week or at the latest the end of September 2022.

Meeting Adjourn – 2:54pm Additional information added in the chat field of the zoom meeting: I know some of you were unable to attend and some folks had to leave early, so I wanted to follow up with the materials I shared during the meeting: Fall Industry Advisory Committee Meeting Agenda Farm Manager, Matthew Olson's Presentation ACC Agriculture Sciences Program Update to Date 2018-2022 Website links discussed: Finegan https://tamu.estore.flywire.com/products/texas-fruit-conference James https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/Full_Report/Volume_1,_Chapter_1_State_Level/Texas/ Savannah https://docs.google.com/document/d/1izKyoekmhz7LbM_1gG4OgN5KpV3ey1VonEBdFMX5hrE/edit?usp=sharing