A Central Valley agricultural initiative is looking for input from local farmers for its applied training programs.
The request comes ahead of the AgTEC Summit scheduled for later this month.
The big picture: The Fresno Merced Future of Food (F3), a collaboration led by the Central Valley Community Foundation, is asking local farmers for their feedback to validate and further inform the development of training programs offered through the initiative.
- The survey can be found here and asks farmers to identify their highest labor shortages as well as their needs for additional employee training.
The backstory: AgTEC started last year with a $15 million investment from the state to use community colleges to further the careers of those in the agriculture industry.
- The program expects to train over 8,000 people within four years and bring a 60 percent growth in wages.
- The F3 Initiative received $65 million through the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge last year.
What we’re watching: The Fresno Merced Future of Food is hosting the first report out of the F3 AgTEC Initiative on April 20 at the Saroyan Theater in downtown Fresno.
- The three-hour summit will have academics, farmworkers and other representatives from the agriculture industry present.
- Stewart, Knox, the California Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, and Christine Birdsong, the Undersecretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, will be at the summit.
