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Agricultural Business and Technology Institute

The Fundraising Plan calls for raising $2 million to create the Agricultural Business and Technology Institute at Hartnell College, a reinvigorated agriculture program that will add many new courses, degree programs and certificates, and more than double the number of students over a period of three years.
The Agriculture Steering Committee, comprising industry leaders, college officials, and other interested community members, consulted with faculty and administration at four community colleges in the state with thriving agriculture programs, and surveyed agricultural business leaders about their workforce needs to come up with a plan for the Institute, to be housed on Hartnell’s Alisal Campus. The three year plan has a $3.5 million operating budget, of which $1.9 million is being raised from businesses, individuals and foundations. The college has a commitment of $1.6 million in operating funds plus $23 million to build a new state-of-the-art facility on our Alisal Campus, a 150 acre parcel. This will be funded by state and local bond money. Ag industry leaders have pledged their cooperation and enthusiastic endorsement to provide internships and technical expertise. The program will provide Salinas-area students and workers the knowledge and skills to contribute to this ever growing and modernizing industry, and provide our leading industry with the most highly trained, sophisticated workforce possible.

There are currently five advisory committees, covering roughly the seven areas of study that the institute will encompass: Agricultural Business/Marketing/Production; Post Harvest and Food Safety; Wine Studies and Viticulture; Precision Agriculture; and Agricultural Mechanics, Fabrication, and Diesel Technology. Two additional committees will be established in the next year in Forestry and Park Management and Equine Sciences.