Cuesta College’s Farm and Ranch Education Program is located across Highway One from the San Luis Obispo campus. It is on a 75-acre tract of land owned by the college. In 2022, when the program was in its early stages, there was a plan to acquire a 150-acre horse ranch in Arroyo Grande. When this did not take place, the property on Education Drive was acquired. Agricultural Mechanics and Construction Technology are also taught on the property as credit classes. The property is also used for the Fairbanks cross-country running track.
“There’s a lot going on here that people don’t know about,” Shelly Ingram, the associate professor of the program, said.
Ingram has been with the program from its beginning in 2022. The first classes officially began in spring 2024.
The decision not to buy a horse ranch involved many factors, including feedback from local ranchers. One of the most common concerns ranchers and farmers had was that many job applicants lacked practical experience working with livestock and equipment. Additionally, they didn’t have experience with common repairs, such as fencing.
This lack of knowledge made them unsafe to hire. These facts led to the development of a curriculum devoted to teaching land and farm maintenance, livestock handling and some grazing skills.
“Our students come from a variety of backgrounds. Some are right out of high school. Some community members, who just want to learn more. We’ve had people from government agencies that work in environmental sustainability, but have no practical experience,” Ingram said.
Ingram grew up on a horse ranch in Northern California and trained horses for many years.
Her interest in sustainability led her to work in the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. She also worked as an equine resource conservationist in Maryland and as a land use consultant in Santa Barbara. Her extensive background and experience offer her students decades of hands-on knowledge.
Students don’t just work on the school’s property. They also go out to farms and ranches to work with people currently operating agricultural businesses.
“If you don’t mind the kind of lifestyle that it takes to live with livestock, which means being with them 24/7 and you like being outdoors, being a livestock grazer for fire mitigation can be a way to make a good living,” Ingram said.
“We’re sending them out to meet people, so it exposes them to people in the industry to find out which agricultural industries that they might be interested in”, Ingram said.
Cuesta College’s Farm and Ranch Program offers newcomers and those who wish to expand their knowledge the opportunity to learn from experts how to begin or improve their skills in the ranch and farm industry. Although the courses are non-credit, they do provide the basic skills necessary to begin working on a farm or ranch.
