SANTA BARBARA — Santa Barbara County Farm Day will kick off at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 19 with an online tour of Babé Farms.
Offered by Students for Eco-Education and Agriculture (SEEAG), Santa Barbara County Farm Day is now in its second year. Farm Day is an opportunity for the public to visit local growers to see how crops are grown, harvested and sent to market. This year, tours will be virtual.
New farm videos will be posted every hour until 3:00 p.m. on the Santa Barbara County Farm Day Facebook page. All videos will also be available beginning September 19 on the Santa Barbara County Farm Day website, www.santabarbaracountyfarmday.com.
Besides growers, agricultural entities Engel and Grey (farm equipment and compost) and Primus Labs (pesticide residue testing laboratory) are taking part.
“Although no in-person tours are possible this year, the videos will give viewers the ability to learn about the farms in their county and hear from the farmers who grow so much of the food we eat,” says Mary Maranville, founder and CEO of SEEAG.
In addition to specific farm videos, two, 10 minute “Farm Features” will be posted—one discussing safety in the field during COVID-19 and the second on how Central Coast agriculture competes on a global stage. Farmers from Main Street Produce, Innovative Produce and Plantel Nurseries, Western Onion and Duda Farm Fresh Foods were interviewed for the two features.
Santa Barbara County Farm Day sponsors include Edwin and Jeanne Woods Foundation, Tri-Cal, Plantel Nurseries, Driscoll’s, Innovative Produce, Farm Credit West, Community Bank of Santa Maria and Coastal AG Services.
About 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 including Farm Day in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, over 65,000 elementary school students and community members in Southern California have increased their understanding of the food journey. For more information, visit www.seeag.org or email Mary Maranville at mary@seeag.org