Recently I visited with our colleagues at UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz – UC's newest Agricultural Experiment Station campuses.

At UC Merced, we met with administrators, faculty and staff for a tour of campus. There, we were shown some of the vast rangelands that encompass the UC Natural Reserve System sites managed by UC Merced and the site for the new agricultural research park. The plans feature teaching spaces, research plots, public engagement opportunities, and sites for collaboration with industry leaders. 

The visit to the UC Santa Cruz campus and community gardens were very different from our visit to Merced. UC Santa Cruz features a fully functional farm that provides high-quality produce to students and community members at little or no cost. We also toured their aquaculture facility wherein rainbow trout are grown for both research and consumption. 

You can read more about our visit to UCSC at https://news.ucsc.edu/2023/10/aes-designation-planning-campus-visit.html.

We are excited to engage with both campuses as they become fully integrated into our Agricultural Experiment Station network.