Courtesy photo.
VENTURA — More than 1,800 vegetable plants were distributed at Students for Eco-Education and Agriculture’s (SEEAG) first annual Plantopia U Pick Transplant Fundraiser on Earth Day. The fundraiser raised over $5,000 to help with SEEAG’s agricultural education programs that teach students about the farm origins of their food, water resources, soil health, entomology and locally grown fruits and vegetables.
Plantopia was held at SEEAG’s Farm Lab at Petty Ranch in Ventura and Plantel Nurseries in Santa Maria. In addition to tomatoes, zucchini, squash, basil and pepper seedlings, SEEAG provided 500 bags of potting soil donated by Agromin in Ventura County and Engel and Gray in Santa Barbara County to give plants a healthy start.
“We plan to make Plantopia an annual event,” says Mary Maranville, SEEAG’s founder and CEO. “It’s a great way to kick off planting season, remind people of the importance of our farmers and celebrate Earth Day.”
Other annual SEEAG events include Santa Barbara County Farm Day in September and Ventura County Farm Day in November.
For more about SEEAG, go to www.SEEAG.org
SEEAG Founded in 2008, Students for Eco-Education and Agriculture (SEEAG) is a nonprofit organization that aims to help young students understand the origins of their food by bridging the gap between agriculture and consumption through its agricultural education programming. SEEAG’s “The Farm Lab” program based in Ventura County teaches schoolchildren about the
origins of their food and the importance of local farmland by providing schools with classroom agricultural education and free field trips to farms. Through this and other SEEAG programs,
over 100,000 elementary school students in Central and Southern California have increased their understanding of the food journey. SEEAG also puts on Santa Barbara County Farm Day and Ventura County Farm Day each year. For more information, visit www.seeag.org or email Mary Maranville at mary@seeag.org.