Soil and agriculture courses are being taught again at Ventura College. This was a commitment of outgoing President, Greg Gillespie. There are only a handful California community (junior) colleges that still teach soils. Luckily Santa Barbara City, Allan Hancock, Pierce, Mira Costa and a few other community colleges in the Central Valley have at least introductory courses in soils. Many of the leading growers in Ventura County got their start in college taking soils courses at Ventura College, then went on to four-year colleges to round out their educations. The community college classes have always been a taste, a dusting of understanding of soils and if someone wanted to dig deeper, they would go on to somewhere like Davis, Fresno, Riverside, Pomona or San Luis. The community colleges are part of the continuum, start there and then go anywhere.

Dr. Jennifer Charles-Tollerup, the incoming Agriculture Instructor at Ventura College, brings a diverse set of experiences including 5 years in agricultural production systems, 4 years in agricultural research and education, 6 years in community college instruction as well as appointments in program development.  She holds a PhD from the University of California, Riverside in Entomology with a concentration in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Statistics along with a Bachelor's from the University of California, Santa Cruz in Biology and Environmental Studies with emphasis in Botany and Agroecology.  Jennifer trained as an Apprentice in Ecological Horticulture at UC Santa Cruz's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.  She has worked on market gardens, family farms, and large-scale operations in citrus, grapes, nurseries, strawberries, herbs, lettuces, and edible flowers.  Jennifer has used her academic and professional experience to coordinate elementary school garden programs.Jennifer readily supports the mission of the community college, to transform lives through education.  Her approach involves building relationships with students and with agriculture partners, connecting the two together, and launching students into their life's work in agriculture.  (this from CA Women in Ag newsletter, http://www.cwaventura.com/).More information about the Ventura College Agriculture Program can be found at http://www.venturacollege.edu/departments/academic/agriculture

Soil and agriculture courses are being taught again at Ventura College. There are only a handful California community (junior) colleges that still teach soils. Luckily Santa Barbara City, Allan Hancock, Pierce, Mira Costa and a few other community colleges have at least introductory courses in soils. Many of the leading growers in Ventura County got their start in college taking soils courses at Ventura College, then went on to four-year colleges to round out their educations. The community college classes have always been a taste, a dusting of understanding of soils and if someone wanted to dig deeper, they would go on to somewhere like Davis, Fresno, Riverside, Pomona or San Luis. The community colleges are part of the continuum, start there and then go anywhere.

Dr. Jennifer Charles-Tollerup, the incoming Agriculture Instructor at Ventura College, brings a diverse set of experiences including 5 years in agricultural production systems, 4 years in agricultural research and education, 6 years in community college instruction as well as appointments in program development.  She holds a PhD from the University of California, Riverside in Entomology with a concentration in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Statistics along with a Bachelor's from the University of California, Santa Cruz in Biology and Environmental Studies with emphasis in Botany and Agroecology.  Jennifer trained as an Apprentice in Ecological Horticulture at UC Santa Cruz's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.  She has worked on market gardens, family farms, and large-scale operations in citrus, grapes, nurseries, strawberries, herbs, lettuces, and edible flowers.  Jennifer has used her academic and professional experience to coordinate elementary school garden programs.

Jennifer readily supports the mission of the community college, to transform lives through education.  Her approach involves building relationships with students and with agriculture partners, connecting the two together, and launching students into their life's work in agriculture.  (this from CA Women in Ag newsletter, http://www.cwaventura.com/).

More information about the Ventura College Agriculture Program can be found at http://www.venturacollege.edu/departments/academic/agriculture

Come learn the dirt on the differences - ground, alluvium, subsoil, topsoil, mud, muck, marl, mire, smut - there are, but some terms are more subtle than others.  Check out your local college for their soils course work.