Harvesting Futures In Agricultural Education

Join Paul Ward in this episode of Farm Talk as he welcomes Seth Wilmoth, a passionate teammate of SEEAG, a pioneering organization revolutionizing agricultural education. Uncover the origins and inspiration behind SEEAG, as Seth discusses the transformative impact of hands-on experiences and education in the curriculum. Explore SEEAG’s collaboration with elementary and high school students, STEM programs, and its efforts to open doors to future job opportunities, all while expanding its geographical reach in partnership with Allan Hancock College. Discover the far-reaching influence of SEEAG, shaping not only students but also teachers and communities, and gain insights into the organization’s future plans, including the role of hydroponics. Plus, find out how other educator can replicate SEEAG’s success 

In this engaging conversation, Paul Ward and Seth Wilmoth take you on a journey through SEEAG’s commitment to ecological education, the lasting impact of elementary school field trips, and the organization’s role in Ventura County’s Farm Day celebrations. Learn about the impressive statistics, with approximately one-third of 150,000 students now in the workforce after experiencing SEEAG’s programs.. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore the future of agricultural education with Farm Talk and SEEAG!

Watch the full episode on Paul’s YouTube Channel

0:00 Welcome to the show and introduction of Seth Wilmoth of SEEAG
0:27 What is SEEAG
0:48 Who started SEEAG, and what was the inspiration behind the whole, the whole idea
1:59 Students learn about where their food comes from with SEEAG
3:05 We learn that students come out on field trips and learn from hands on experiences
4:28 The children learn how to prepare their food 
5:28 The children learn about specific nutrients through the exposure they get on their 3 day lessons
9:25 SEEAG works with high school students and internships are available
9:42 What are STEM programs
10:54 Students learn just what makes California and especially Ventura County so special in terms of what is grown agriculturally
12:02 SEEAG opens the door for future job opportunities
12:54 How far does SEEAG reach
13:45 SEEAG partners with Alan Hancock College in Santa Maria to duplicate what they are doing in Ventura County further north in California
14:38 How many students does SEEAG serve every year
15:27 Find out how SEEAG learns from experience and tweaks to ensure its success
18:08 After their lessons, some teachers and even students take what they’ve learned to their classrooms and to their homes
19:12 What does the word “Eco” mean in the name SEEAG
21:08 The impact an elementary school field trip to SEEAG can have years later as these students grow and enter the workforce
23:25 One third of approximately 150,000 students are now in the workforce
24:42 Hydroponics and more about it
25:17 The future of SEEAG
27:47 Can others take what SEE AG is doing and do something similar in their areas
28:38 What is Farm Day and how is SEEAG involved
30:45 How can someone interested in SEEAG reach out for more information
32:16 Seth’s email address and mention Farm Talk when you reach out
32:36 Thank you to our sponsor Opus Escrow

Contact Seth Wilmoth
SEEAG
Education Program Director/Operations Coordinator
seth@seeag.org

Related Episodes:
The Upside of Downs at Mulberry Lanes Farm in Somis, CA
Hilary Boynton- Founder of School of Lunch
Sage Brews- A Female Owned Organic Brewery

Have ideas for future episodes? We’d love to answer your questions – leave a comment! For any home buying or home selling needs in the Ventura County area of California, please reach out to Paul@HomeAndRanchTeam.com or visit www.HomeAndRanchTeam.com

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A special THANK YOU to our sponsors! 15 Minutes with Paul Ward would not be possible without the support of our sponsors, Opus Escrow and Community West Bank. Supporting our sponsors ensures 15 Minutes with Paul Ward can provide listeners with the best possible episodes.

Paul Ward (00:05):

Hi everyone, it’s Paul Ward here, and welcome to another edition of Farm Talk. I’m very excited. Today we’re sitting out in the middle of a Lemon Orchard in Ventura County, California, and our special guest is Seth Wilmoth, the Education Program Director with SEEAG, located here in Ventura County. Seth, welcome to the show.

Seth Wilmoth (00:25):

Thanks for having me. Really, really excited.

Paul Ward (00:27):

Absolutely. And before we lose our audience, we gotta know what is SEEAG?

Seth Wilmoth (00:32):

So, SEEAG stands for Students for Eco Education and Agriculture. We’re a nonprofit that really fundamentally focuses on agricultural education, teaching students in the community about where their food comes from and how it affects our health.

Paul Ward (00:48):

A great cause. And who started SEEAG and kind of what was the inspiration behind the whole, the whole idea?

Seth Wilmoth (00:55):

Yeah, so about 15 to 16 years ago our founder, Mary Maranville sort of had the idea and ultimately it spawned. She had seen a field trip where they brought Herrick Research center, actually brought students out, third grade students, which is the same age that we see now to come learn about farming and the sciences behind how we grow our food. And it inspired her so much. She actually started SEEAG after that, and ultimately, she is a daughter of a farm worker, daughter of a dairy farmer in New York. And so, I think that moment kind of, it was a cultivation of her life and what her father’s work meant to her and how she could put that into meaningful work. And it spawned from there. She started taking students out on her own originally partnering with Limoneira, doing field trips that way, seeing students doing all the educating and built it from there the ground up. And now we’ve seen it grow over the last decade into being able to see thousands of students every single year.

Paul Ward (01:59):

That’s awesome. So, kids don’t know where their food comes from, right? It comes from a package in the grocery store. I mean, if you’re a third grader, it comes from the shelf, right? You don’t know how your food is made or where or how it’s grown, and that’s not something that you learn really in the classroom, so you’re kind of an extension of that.

Seth Wilmoth (02:19):

Yeah, I mean, it’s apparent when we’re in the classrooms that students, although they may know and are very familiar with the food that they enjoy, there’s a disconnect between where it actually comes from. And not just that, but the people who make that happen and appreciation for those folks for farm workers and all the steps along the food supply chain. Because there’s thousands of different types of jobs that interweave and make that start from the soil and wind up on our plates, and there’s people that make that happen. There are scientific processes that make that happen, all of which I think there’s becoming a divide of understanding and appreciation for. So we’re trying to sort of mend that gap and develop an appreciation again for the food and the people.

Paul Ward (03:05):

So, you bring the kids out here or the, the teachers or the school, it’s a field trip, right? They come out to the fields and the orchards and learn hands-on.

Seth Wilmoth (03:15):

Yes, exactly. So, our third grade, our youth programs are sort of a three-part program; is what we’ve developed to not just have a field trip experience out on the farm, but we actually go and visit the classroom to do an introduction to agriculture. And more than just introducing the the concepts, it gets a chance for students to develop a little bit of rapport with our educators, our staff. And that’s always fun because when you start to become comfortable to share, to learn from a teacher, an educator it makes a huge difference when they step out on the farm and they see some familiar faces and they’re already excited about a field trip where they get to be outside, run around, explore a little bit. It really just sort of sets the scene really well to create a conducive environment to learn and to get the most out of it. And then following our field trip, we actually go back and visit the school again. This time to finish the journey of our food, we focus on nutrition. So, we actually get to take some of these specialty crops that we grow in our county and in California and show them how to prep it, how to make a tasty meal. That might just be with fruits and vegetables and a combination and things like that.

Paul Ward (04:28):

What would that encompass? You’d bring, like foods for salads, would you bring tomatoes and cucumbers and lettuces?

Seth Wilmoth (04:34):

Exactly. So, we have a sort of a seasonal recipe that will kind of transition through the fall and winter, and we try to kind of cater some of our recipes and our activities to that. We also have an element of the food rainbow because there’s a lot you can learn based on the foods, the colors of the fruits and vegetables. And kids seem to really; it helps ’em understand certain antioxidants, how they can help your heart. And the specific minerals in, say yellow fruits and vegetables are actually good for their skin. Things like that. Help them connect. So, if we can build a recipe around the food rainbow and around local specialty crops, it kind of ties it in together nicely. So, you know, we’ll have say a rainbow salsa recipe where they’ll get to cut the tomatoes and add, you know a few other veggies, some, some beans, and then, you know, make the rainbow dish.

Paul Ward (05:28):

And I would imagine that a third grader probably has not heard the term antioxidant before coming out here. It’s not something that you learn, it’s not even a spelling word, right? It’s something new.

Seth Wilmoth (05:39):

Totally. That’s a good point. It’s kind of fun because we tie in, I mean, there’s these big words that like anthocyanin, right? And lycopene. Which are nutrients that even I hadn’t heard of before coming to SEEAG but it’s not necessarily about them remembering that specific term, but I think it’s fun to start introducing them to the importance of nutrients and the fact that there’s a whole science behind it that can be really interesting, really exciting, and that they can actually maybe one day pursue as a career, right? If they get involved. So, I think it’s always good to just provide exposure. Some students, you know, it’s just about the experience, but some hold onto that. And it’s remarkable too, what some will actually keep in and in our surveys as a lot of what we capture is, you know, what are things that stood out and kind of get, you know, the fact that some, hold on, I remember that red fruits and vegetables have so and so and help your heart. And it’s, that makes it really special because it’s not on lost ears.

Paul Ward (06:35):

You know, and I would, I would think that, you know, looking back that, you know, you always remember your field trips as a kid, right? And you’re combining biology and plant science and I mean, you chemistry and health and nutrition. So you’re kind of encompassing all of these different topics in your three day lesson.

Seth Wilmoth (06:56):

Yeah. I think that too is what originally drew me to SEEAG is looking back on some of the most, I think impactful experiences I had in elementary school were field trips or visits from somebody outside of the school. Like they, you really hold onto that and knowing that it’s such a special time. I think it matters what students are introduced to those. I remember for, for example, we went out to one of the Indian reserves near my house, and some of the things we taught, I remembered so vividly to this day. And I think that changes in some cases the course of students learning and, and their understanding of their environment and things like that. So, to be a part, a pivotal part of, you know, these experiences, like we had. Our first field trip of the year we had a school from Oxnard and speaking to the teacher, this was many well, all of the students’ first field trip that they’d ever experienced.

Seth Wilmoth (07:54):

And many, many of the students’ first time ever being on a farm and growing up in Ventura County around this. It’s shocking. And so that’s, that really motivates me is to have, again, a piece of that for a child’s memory, for their development. Like I said whether in elementary school or even high school. You know, another thing that I came to the realization of is, and it’s kind of a funny, but how I got here andin this position and what motivated me to wanna get involved is sitting in college, I remember having a conversation with my friend and saying like, what do I really wanna do? What type of work do I wanna to? And thinking back to a high school assembly where we had an older guy come in and he was speaking about bullying and things like that, and prevention, and just how cool having an individual come in and speak with confidence and, you know, get excited and get to speak to those school.

Seth Wilmoth (08:53):

I’ll never forget it. And I think I had this realization that I wanna be able to do something like that to reach a wide audience, to reach young students, but where’s my passion lie? And that’s in the origins of our food, where our food comes from, the nutrients that come from our food, and, and getting in tune with that. And that’s sort of how those two things came together. And it was funny that SEEAG, when I put sort of my feelers out after college, sort of fell into my lap as an opportunity and was like, if this isn’t the perfect melding of those passions, I don’t know what else sort of is.

Paul Ward (09:25):

That’s awesome. And SEEAG does work with high schoolers as well, right? I mean there’s a classroom program for them and potentially internships. It’s not all elementary.

Seth Wilmoth (09:36):

Yeah, exactly. So, we’ve now grown to add two STEM programs, both very similar, but fundamentally different.

Paul Ward (09:42):

For folks that don’t know, what is STEM?

Seth Wilmoth (09:44):

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. So, both of these programs are STEM careers in agriculture. So really the goal there is to introduce the wide range of different opportunities. I think there’s a bit of a stereotype, especially those who’ve grown up and are familiar with agriculture. Agriculture is just working the fields or is just, you know, maybe working in a processing plant. Yes. That is part of it. And there’s extremely important parts of agriculture, but especially now, there’s so many cool ways that you can get involved and feed the world, provide the resources for the world. And so it’s a presentation where you get to going and ideally inspire young students about, Hey, look at all the different things you can do in science. If you like technology, if you want to be an engineer, even if you like math, there’s ways in which we can create more efficient ways to grow our food, right? And to process our food, to sell our food, all those things. And so yeah, it’s a lot of fun. We go into the classroom, we’ve got an hour, and it’s a little bit of a background, some context, because again, even at that age, even though they’re not as young, I still am teaching students a lot for the first time, what we grow in our county, what is the value.

Paul Ward (10:54):

Even in high school, it’s not something they learn.

Seth Wilmoth (10:57):

Yeah. It’s like, I think you have a lot of students like, what is our top crop? Strawberries! What else do we grow? Lemons! And then it kind of fades off. California is so unique, and Ventura County is so unique because of the diversity of what we can grow. We’ve got people coming from all around California for opportunities to work in agriculture in Ventura County and all around the world to work in places like this. So, I think it’s nice to hear that, for them to hear that and kind of show all the different things and show ’em not just local individuals. We do highlights on; say you want to be you’re into beneficial insects, how you can work in an insectory, or how you can be an engineer that designs drones to, you know, apply the beneficial insects to fields. Or, you know, if you want to be a livestock vet, you know, just the wide range of that. Show them that, and then show them, okay, how do you get there? What are resources that might be helpful for you? What are local colleges, local universities, local volunteer opportunities and internships that can help them make that next step?

Paul Ward (12:02):

So, you’re just opening up their eyes to so many different opportunities. And then it sounds like even linking them to those resources where they can then apply for internships and maybe, you know, future jobs down the road.

Seth Wilmoth (12:16):

Exactly. It’s a being a resource for them. Yes. We’ve got an hour, which is a short amount of time to get across everything that we want to. . But I think what I’d like to leave them with is SEEAG as an organization, we are someone that they can look to as a resource to help them out. Whether it’s on that day where we can have a conversation and I can answer questions or it’s weeks, months, years down the line, they say, “See, I remember your presentation. How can I get involved? Do you know any growers they are looking to hire? I’m interested in, you know, A, B, and C. How might I fit in Ventura County agriculture or California agriculture, or even beyond?”

Paul Ward (12:54):

And how far is SEEAG reaching? Is it only Ventura County? Is LA County coming up now? I mean, the field trips, you can only drive so far in a day, but you can do a lot with Zoom too.

Seth Wilmoth (13:05):

That’s very true. So, we obviously started in Ventura County and have had been to see every district within the county, which has been really special. We now have, I think, two or three schools coming up from LA County which, you know, says a lot. It’s not cheap. And we offer bus reimbursements to the schools to try to alleviate that cost. But still to make that trek and to sacrifice that time to come all the way up here. To visit our farm. And within the last two years, we’ve also really ramped up Santa Barbara County programs as well. So, for the first time last year, we piloted this same program, our Farm Lab on site program for third graders in Santa Maria.

Paul Ward (13:45):

Okay. So, you have another farm, kind of a replicate of what you have here with the outside classroom up north?

Seth Wilmoth (13:51):

So, in this beginning stage, we partnered with Allan Hancock College. They’ve got a vineyard and a community garden space that lend itself well to what we’re doing. I think ideally the goal, as a project we’re actually working on right now, is to get a space like this where we can really take full advantage and make it our own on a farm, on a working farm. But for right now, we’re so grateful for the partnership and what they’ve offered us is to open up their space. ’cause They’re also teaching outta there right. College students is to open up that space a few Tuesdays every month. So, we can go up there and we can see schools from Santa Maria, Lompoc, the Valley, all that which has been, we’ve seen a lot of success. And its fun getting some footing there and getting some traction and seeing the development.

Paul Ward (14:38):

That’s awesome. How many students is SEEAG serving or seeing every year?

Seth Wilmoth (14:43):

So right now, we have about a little over 9,000 students on the calendar for this school year. Which is a lot. Which we’re really proud of it. Really proud of our team and being able to make that happen. And that’s not including summer programs. So, I think by the end of our goal for the 2023-2024 school year is to see over 10,000 students across both counties. And so yeah, I think last year we were at about 8,500. And so, continuing to expand reach, you know, not just continue to reach more of Ventura County, but also get the opportunity to see students from Santa Barbara County and Los Angeles.

Paul Ward (15:27):

How do you guys measure if a program’s successful or not? Have you had to change things over time and kind of tweak things as you’ve grown?

Seth Wilmoth (15:35):

Yeah, so that’s a good question. And it’s not easy by any means to capture the effectiveness on a consistent basis. But we do our very best. And what’s a huge tool for us is surveys. And ultimately, we sort of have surveys for a bit of, sort of a pre-test and a survey kind of all in one for our students. And the same thing for teachers. And what we look to get out of the students is we send them basically a 15 question pre-survey that they take with their class that kind of gets their level of understanding of just basic principles like agriculture, what is farming, what do we grow in our county? And then some of the more specifics, like what goes on, what makes up soil, you know, what are the different parts of a plant and, you know, where do we get our water from that we use on the farm?

Seth Wilmoth (16:26):

Things like that. And then wind up asking them those same questions to see the comprehension of what we’re teaching out here. And so that really helps getting to see individual questions, individual stations, and you know, diving into how effectively we are teaching about soil science based on, you know, these metrics. And then also the overall impact. You know, we love just personal feedback, and you know, testimonials from students. What did you learn today? What was the most exciting thing from the day? Things like that. ’cause I think that is a huge part of what, you know, defines success too, is right. Is beyond, yes, we want to teach, and we want the education to be a core piece, but also what was their experience? Are they gonna remember this down the line as just an enjoyable day?

Seth Wilmoth (17:11):

Being outside, falling in love with being on a farm and being in nature and things like that. And then also a big help is gonna be the teacher surveys and, and, and stuff like that because they are the, the experts and the, the people who are with the students every single day. You know. And so, getting an assessment of how they see this educational, the content, the curriculum fit in with what they’re doing, is it reinforcing what they’ve already taught? Is it introducing new concepts? Is it a reach keeping us, you know, at the same level? So that, again, we we’re effectively and the goal is to introduce new concepts and hopefully support what they’re doing as well. And, and that’s what we’ve tried to hone. And so, you know, getting those surveys, doing teacher focus groups at the end of the year too, to open up the discussion a little bit more to say, you know, you guys know, you go in field trips, and you know, what are the students getting outta it? What is it maybe lacking? Things like that.

Paul Ward (18:08):

And I would imagine some students and teachers who are passionate about it, they have classroom gardens and maybe some of the kids have a tomato plant on the patio at home. They’re more intrigued by it now ’cause they’ve been out here than before.

Seth Wilmoth (18:22):

Oh totally. It’s amazing. One of my favorite parts is getting to interact with the teachers. Because I mean this, in a lot of cases they have gardens and this is such a nice expansion of what they’re trying to teach, but not at scale. You know, it’s hard to do everything in a garden. It’s hard to see what it looks like to produce lemons for not just your county, but to the state and the world. You know and gardens are a key, I think, and a great learning tool and we love to see that. But to be able to offer an extension for them and then for the folks who don’t have a garden yet, you know, to give their students an opportunity like this is huge. And the excitement I mean it’s again, it’s so fun to get to promote and speak with and coordinate with teachers ’cause it’s such a meaningful thing that they enjoy doing every single year.

Paul Ward (19:12):

You mentioned SEEAG had the word “Eco” in it. What does that mean?

Seth Wilmoth (19:19):

To us, eco or ecology, right? Expanding not just obviously agriculture, which is at the core of what we do in farming, but what does it mean to understand the natural world, to understand your environment? I think we came to the conclusion that being out here on a farm and going through our field trips, or even in the classrooms, I think goes beyond creating an appreciation for farming and our workforce, but also just develops an appreciation for the living ecosystem around us. And we’re trying to create not just agricultural stewards, but also environmental stewards who, when you walk and you start to develop a relationship with the outdoors and I think it’s so apparent the impact that can have. So I think intertwined in, in our lessons and just the experiences that we have, you know, we’re teaching about the water cycle, which applies not just to farming, but our everyday life. We’re teaching about soil and how that impacts not just the plants that we’re growing, but the environment and you know, the health of, of plenty of different systems and species and stuff like that. So it’s, it’s all interrelated. And so I think it would be doing a disservice not to acknowledge kind of what we do in that sphere and the importance of it for the students.

Paul Ward (20:38):

Sure. So somebody who came out here had the three-day experience obviously learned about farming, but also the, the natural environment and could go onto a whole field in that industry that they never imagined.

Seth Wilmoth (20:52):

Yeah, exactly. And I think that that speaks to, you know, the inspiration what we’re trying to get is, yes, they’re young, but it’s so encouraging to hear students come and down the line now that we, you know, Mary’s been doing this for 15 years. She’s got students that are now in the workforce.

Paul Ward (21:08):

That’s right. They were elementary when they came, and they recall it.

Seth Wilmoth (21:12):

They remember their experience and come back and will be like, you know, “I still remember that field trip that you had and the impact that it had on me.” And I wish we could see the numbers of how many students came out here, like had an impactful experience and decided to get into agriculture because I can guarantee you; Well, it might not surprise us ’cause we’re out here, but it would surprise many, many people because of how I think profound the experience is. And one good example that just I think encapsulates kind of what we do and what we try to accomplish is and it’s fitting because just today, Aspen Elementary came out a year ago, about the same time we had a third grade class or two classes from Aspen. And one individual named Heidi she was a student came through the program.

Seth Wilmoth (21:58):

We saw her at the school, she came out to the farm, and then we did our follow-up presentation in nutrition. So, she got the whole journey of our food program. And at the end of her field trip, we give every student a seedling. So, she wounded up with a broccoli seedling. You know, we encouraged the students to take it home, care for it, practice growing your own plant and see what you think. And in the spring, we got an email from Heidi’s teacher and her mom had actually shared a picture of her next to her broccoli plant, which was, you know, it was so cool. We know that many students bring these plants home, but to actually see it, to see her sitting next to it, with a, the broccoli nearly as big as her head and smiling.

Seth Wilmoth (22:40):

There’s nothing like that. And then, you know, a month later we get to hear back as an update. She had actually had her grandmother’s birthday and they harvested the broccoli. Her dad helped her cook it up, and they served it to the whole family. And she shared that with us again. And it was like, just to see the sort of the full experience and what that meant to Heidi and the excitement on her face in the photos of her next to you know, what she grew and then prepared for her family. That’s again, what it’s all about, I think. And I think that she’ll take that with her, you know, for years and years to come. And we hope, you know, to encourage more students to have those. And I’m sure there’s plenty of behind the scenes where we don’t get to see, but it’s happening.

Paul Ward (23:25):

That’s awesome. So, doing the math, if you’re talking to 8,500 and now maybe 10,000 kids a year, and you’ve been doing this for 15 years, you’re approaching 150,000 kids and now a third of them are in the workforce, maybe half, right? They’ve got a passion for the environment and a passion for farming, and you know, what goes into it? That’s very impressive.

Seth Wilmoth (23:49):

Yeah, yeah. No, it’s cool. And it’s like you are speaking to the younger kids, and you get a lot out of them, right. They’re not afraid, but the middle and high school students I think are a little bit more reserved. But you still see, I think it makes it even more rewarding when you’re presenting and you get a student that comes up to you afterwards and says, “Hey, you know….” You get a few hands, but there’s a timidness and you try to embrace it, but say, “All right, if you have any other questions, I’ll be around,” and comes up to me afterwards and shares it. They’ve been working on this hydroponic system and are actually growing plants in their house. And this whole product is just to see their face light up about things like that. And maybe have some reinforcement by someone like us come in the classroom and talk about how cool and important that stuff is and how you can actually make a career out of it.

Paul Ward (24:42):

And maybe it gives them some resources. Not everybody even knows what hydroponics is.

Seth Wilmoth (24:48):

Yeah, it might not just be a hobby, but we feature in our presentations large scale hydroponics. What is the future of that gonna look like? How can you get involved? What are the pros and cons? And, you know, who are gonna be the problem solvers who can, you know, continue the way or sort of progress the way that we grow our food and stuff like that. So those interactions, you know, with the young students, but also the middle and high school students as they’re really getting to that age is, is special, you know.

Paul Ward (25:17):

That’s awesome. Where is SEEAG going in the future? What’s kind of the vision for the future? I mean, obviously it’s grown from, you know, one person’s field trip, Mary Maryville’s own personal experience, and how big is your staff and what’s gonna happen in the future?

Seth Wilmoth (25:32):

Yeah, so right now we’re just around 10 to12 depending on, you know, we have some sub part-time employees. We have some CSU a student that’s actually working with us for a few hours a week, and we bring on dietetic interns. So those are fluctuate a little bit. But as far as a full-time staff, we’re just approaching 10, which is pretty exciting. And enables us to see, you know, the thousands and thousands and also put on our Farm Day events, which is, you know, it’s such a big part of what we do as well. But where we’re going in the future, I think on a, you know, looking at it on a micro scale and just what we do, I think is continuing to create the most impactful programs that we possibly can.

Seth Wilmoth (26:18):

And there’s always work to be done to evaluate how can we make this you know, better for our students. How can we make this better for our teachers? , you know, and those sorts of things. And then looking, you know, broadly, where do we go from here? You know, we’re serving Ventura County, we just began serving Santa Barbara County and doing some of these same programs is to continue to hopefully see students from every single district and every single school across the central coast and continue to expand. you know, as much as we can. I think there’s a, of course, a need for it. And now we’ve got a lot of momentum behind us and to continue to do that. And then what’s great about, you know, technology now is, there’s a virtual aspect of it, is to continue to ramp up our virtual, you know, we, through COVID we wound up switching to virtual presentations to get by, but I don’t think that is at the heart.

Seth Wilmoth (27:09):

We, gotta return to; we gotta be outside. But I think there’s a lot of value to still seeing our lessons, especially students on the East coast who might not have ever or ever experienced, what does California agricultural look like? Let’s, you know, let’s learn from a ranch out in Ventura County in California from one of our educators, maybe a live a bit more lessons like that, I think is what we’re trying to do to get involved with students, not just in California, but potentially around the country, around the world who wanna learn about SEEAG. And that’s the magic of the internet and what we can do there. So, we got a lot of cool projects that are, that are spawning from that.

Paul Ward (27:47):

And I imagine other educators could reach out and not copy, but, you know, borrow from what you’re doing in their area, different crops. California’s pretty rich in our crops, but, you know, farming is all over the place.

Seth Wilmoth (28:01):

Yeah, yeah. Inspire, you know, folks to maybe that are doing similar things. How can they improve, learn from each other or to start this in, you know, a county in some other state? Really, it’s replicable, you know, in a great way. It’s what we’re doing is relatively simple. How do we get students outta the classroom and, you know, in front of their food that’s growing and in front of the people that grow the food. And so hopefully yeah. You know, as much as the work that we can do, but of course, inspiring others to do similar work to replicate similar programs, you know, is the ultimate goal, you know?

Paul Ward (28:38):

That’s awesome. You mentioned Farm Day. What is that for folks that might not know and how are you guys involved in that?

Seth Wilmoth (28:44):

Yeah, so this is our annual event that we created because ultimately, we get to work with students, you know, 200 or so school days of the school year, right. But outside of that, you know, we don’t get as big of an opportunity to work with the community, right. We have teachers that are coming and that are working and watching our programs through the field trips that are like, I learned, or I had no idea that that’s where we got all of our water and in our county. And, you know, I think that’s what initially spawned Mary’s idea to create a farm day. That there’s a need, not just for the youth, but just the general community. So, it’s an annual event where we partner with between 10 and 20 farms and we’re growing and growing.

Seth Wilmoth (29:26):

Where they can open up their doors on a single day and have the community come out to do tours to learn about what they do, to get to ask questions. And so now we have a Santa Barbara County Farm Day, we have a Ventura County Farm Day. We just had our 11th annual Ventura County Farm Day, and we just had our fifth annual Santa Barbara County farm day with I think combined over 10,000 maybe over 11,000 community members that came out between the two, which is so cool to see and to hear what it means to have people come out and how many of them have been coming out for years and years and years. It’s their favorite event of the year. Or, you know, “I went and saw you have a new farm on your farm day trail map this year that I went and checked out.” And yeah. That’s the purpose is again, to expand our reach, to reach the community, to give a chance for farmers too. I think it’s a great opportunity for them to get involved so they can open their doors and show some of the issues or problems that they’re facing or some of the successes.

Seth Wilmoth (30:35):

What does that really look like? There might be a perception and there’s a divide when we can actually open the doors and engage in conversations and things like that. I think it’s, it’s really impactful tennis.

Paul Ward (30:45):

That’s awesome. So, for a high schooler or an educator who’s watching or listing right now, who’s school might not be involved in SEEAG or a high schooler who maybe is in the city and maybe their school has no shot at joining or coming before he or she graduates. Could they reach out to you for more information, maybe get some more and potentially you know, kind of get a leg up on their future career even though they might not be able to come out and physically visit the farm?

Seth Wilmoth (31:18):

Totally. That’s what we’re here for, anywhere on our website, seeag.org, like SEEAG, “see agriculture,’ hopefully it’s a name that you remember, but on our webpage, you, there’s a “Contact us “page where that will come directly to us if you have specific questions about really anything. And then if you’re more interested in, say, getting involved in our programs, just go to our programs page under “Our work,” and then you can contact me directly. You can look at all of what we offer and if you don’t see something that feels like it fits, reach out. ‘Cause Maybe we can put something together. We see a lot of what we do is directly through the schools, but again, as we continue to grow, we wanna offer you know, individual groups. We do a lot of stuff in the summer where we get to expand that reach and kind of flex and do cool things. So, whether you’re a student or a teacher or just a curious and wanna learn as a community member reach out to us and we’ll try to see what we can do.

Paul Ward (32:16):

Yeah. Awesome. And do you have a Seth, do you have an email that works best for you?

Seth Wilmoth (32:21):

Yes. seth@seeag.org You’ll get in touch with me.

Paul Ward (32:26):

Awesome. Yeah, you could say that you watched Farm Talk and you want more info.

Seth Wilmoth (32:30):

Yeah, exactly. I would love to chat. We can set up a meeting or a phone call and we’ll get into it. Yeah.

Paul Ward (32:36):

Well, thank you so much Seth. We’ve loved having you as a guest.

Seth Wilmoth (32:38):

Thank you. It’s been fun.

Paul Ward (32:40):

Absolutely. Hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Farm Talk and we of course, wanna thank our sponsor, Opus Escrow. And be sure to tune in next time for the next edition of Farm Talk.