Bakersfield College’s Agriculture Department is about to launch a mobile farmers’ market.
According to BC professor Lindsey Ono, who teaches agriculture, environment and a society class as well as agriculture leadership training courses, said the market will be called the Renegade Ranch and will sell produce grown by BC agriculture students.
Sally Sterns, BC horticulture technician, said the mobile produce unit will rotate around BC’s farm and horticulture areas.
Both Ono and Sterns say that the Renegade Ranch will also be taken to different locations including Kern County middle schools and high schools as well as the Kern County Fair.
The Renegade Ranch will also go outside of Kern County to go to the Future Farmers of America convention in Fresno.
Both Ono and Sterns agreed that the mobile market will be consistently used as a form of prospective student outreach, and to especially encourage those prospective students to take agriculture courses at BC.
William Kelly, BC professor of forestry, said that the Renegade Ranch will sell a variety of produce such as oranges, grapefruits, cilantro, eggs and honey, as well as dairy products including cheese and ice cream.
BC will be working with Cal State Fresno’s Agriculture Department, as well as Cal Poly’s Agriculture Department, which will be selling their produce through BC’s Renegade Ranch.
Sterns said that the mobile market will also sell greenery such as ferns, coleus and rhododendrons. The market will also feature fresh hydroponically cultivated herbs and vegetables such as basil and chard.
“Hydroponics is the wave of the future,” said Sterns. “This is very exciting for us.”
Five BC agriculture professors will be working to develop the mobile market, said Kelly. Besides Kelly and Ono, there will be professors William Barnes and Gay Gardella, who both teach animal science. Greg Cluff, who teaches BC crop production courses, will also be quite active in developing the market, Kelly said.
Kelly said the market will be funded through VTEA, which stands for Vocational Technical Educational Act.
According to Kelly, in 2001, Ed Knudson, vice president of academic affairs, started a farmers’ market, which was not particularly successful.