Students Visit Sacramento Legislators

Students from the AG 452 class, Issues Affecting California Agriculture, met with legislators and top policymakers in Sacramento recently to discuss key issues affecting the agriculture industry and the political process tied to it. The class, envisioned by George Soares, alumnus and founding partner at Kahn, Soares & Conway in Sacramento, has been taught at Cal Poly since 2003. The classes policy paper, titled “Dairy Cattle Management Practices and the Effect on Climate,” detailed various new and currently used management practices that can aid in lowering the total amount of methane produced by the dairy cattle industry.

2022 CSU Research Competition

Four students from the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences were selected during a highly completive process to represent Cal Poly at the virtual 2022 CSU Research Competition on April 29-30. In addition, Professor Jeremy James, head of the Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences Department is mentoring a student team from the College of Science and Math. Those projects include:

Efficacy of Free Chlorine and Peracetic Acid Against Listeria monocytogenes in Spent Citrus Water

Kimiko  Casuga (CAFES) & Chloe McGovern (CAFES Alum)

Prof. Amanda Lathrop (CAFES)

Metabolomic profiling in plasma distinguishes metabolic alterations across pregnancy in women with gestational diabetes: A case-control time-course analysis

Hannah Heath (CAFES)

Prof. Michael La Frano (CAFES)

Use of Preference Analysis to Identify Early Adopter Mind-Sets of Insect-based Food Products

Isaac Ho*(CAFES)

Prof. Amy Lammert (CAFES)

An Integrated Approach for Controlling Verticillium Wilt in Strawberry

Jack Koster (CAFES)

Prof. Shashika Hewavitharana (CAFES)

Drought Impacts on Carbon Storage in California Rangelands

Jack Alexander (CSM) & Mary McCafferty (CSM)

Prof. Jeremy James (CAFES)

First at National Grocers Association Student Case Study Competition

A team of four Cal Poly Agricultural Business seniors won first place in the National Grocers Association 2022 Student Case Study Competition for their presentation on March 1. This is the second consecutive year that Cal Poly has won first place.

The team included students Carsen Beckwith, Kaylee Earnshaw, Megan Poyar, and Brittney Tran. Agribusiness Associate Professor Ricky Volpe advised the team.

Tran said the opportunity to represent Cal Poly at the national level was something she had dreamed of since her freshman year. “It was surreal to pitch an idea we had worked countless hours on and meet passionate members of the industry,” Tran said. “I couldn’t be prouder of how far I’ve come as a student at Cal Poly and of my team and what we’ve accomplished.”

This year’s competition focused on providing solutions for Woodman’s, a 19-store independent supermarket chain operating in Wisconsin and Illinois. Woodman’s was seeking ideas for improving its e-commerce presence and better utilizing customer data.

Nine schools, including Cal Poly, competed in a bracket-style competition from Feb. 27 to March 1, with Cal Poly and Auburn University competing in the final round. Teams from Arizona State University, Cal Poly Pomona, Findlay University, Fresno State, Niagara University, St. Joseph’s University and Western Michigan University also participated.

Cal Poly Logging Team Takes First Place

The Cal Poly Loggers, an intercollegiate team of male and female students involved in traditional forestry field skills, took first place at the Sierra-Cascade Logging Conference and Exhibition in Anderson, California. In addition, Kelly Schwenger, second-year forest and fire sciences major, earned top women’s competitor at the event.

Seven teams representing four western states competed in traditional timber sports Feb. 10-12. This was Cal Poly’s first competition since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Students competed in events including underhand chopping, single bucking, double bucking, jack and jill, stock saw, choker setting, axe throw and speed axe.

The Cal Poly logging team, advised by Professor Samantha Gill and assisted by Walter Ruzzo (Natural Resources Management, ’78), competed against teams from Oregon State University; California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt; University of Nevada Reno; U.C. Berkeley; Shasta College; and Northern Arizona University.

The Cal Poly team includes Schwenger; fourth-year forestry and natural resources majors Dustin Morgan, Austin Law, Mark Inman, Owen Purcell, Mary Cizin, and Teoman Dogan; fourth-year architectural engineering major Emmett Huggins; first-year forest and fire sciences major Gregory Crook; fourth-year business administration major Nate Mirizzi; fourth-year animal science major Helen Dubee, second-year forestry and natural resources major Kai Hansen; and Cal Poly alumna Nikki Bright (Environmental Management and Protection, ’21).

Fresh Tracks: First Generation Panel

The second-annual Fresh Tracks: First Generation Panel + Discussion, held Jan. 27, featured several CAFES students who identify as being a first-generation college students. They shared personal stories of navigating the college experience, gave advice, and answered questions about how to make the college experience more inclusive.

First-year agricultural business major Nelson Najera said that the encouragement of his friends, family and mentors gave him the inspiration to consider attending college, something he had not previously given much thought. “It is important to remember that not all of us have had the same educational opportunities,” said Najera, who attended a small, predominately Spanish speaking high school in Greenfield, California. “Deciding to attend Cal Poly was nerve-wracking knowing that I didn’t have some of the same opportunities or as much money as other students.” Najera said that the best advice he received came from his dad. “It doesn’t matter where you come from or where they come from. At the end of the day, you are all sitting in the same classroom.”

The event was organized by the CAFES Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee as part of the college’s DEI Strategic Action Plan, Goal 1: Develop a CAFES culture among students, staff and faculty that promotes inclusive excellence and an equity-minded community. To watch the full event, click here.

Cal Poly Dairy Judging Team Wins

The Cal Poly Dairy Judging Team recently competed in the Southwest Dairy Cattle Judging Contest at the 2022 Fort Worth Stock Show in Texas, emerging as the first-place team in oral reasons and as the second-place team overall. Team members included fourth-year agricultural communication major Genevieve Regli, fourth-year dairy science major Lantz Adams, second-year dairy science major Matthew Brasil, and third-year dairy science major Ryan Haringa. The team was coached by Morgan Wonderly, Matt Ruby and Stan Henderson.

Team Results

First Place Team Oral Reasons

Second High Team Overall

Second High Team Jersey Breed

Fifth High Team Brown Swiss Breed

In addition, Regli received first place in reasons and seventh high individual overall, Adams received fourth in reasons and ninth high individual overall, and Haringa received fifth in reasons and tenth high individual overall.

2021 Student Design Challenge Finalists

Three Cal Poly teams received awards at the Paperboard Packaging Alliance Student Design Challenge (PPA SDC) 2021, with students from the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences serving on two of them.

Recent food science alumna Maia Nelson and food science senior Chris Cheung were both on multi-disciplinary teams honored in the competition, with Nelson’s team placing in the top three and Cheung in the top nine. Nelson’s team “Sweet Pea” designed a packaging system for gardening education and Cheung’s team “EcoSLO” designed a packaging system for clean-ups of natural environments.  

The PPA SDC is a prestigious North American competition to foster awareness and appreciation of paperboard packaging with university educators and the next generation of packaging design decision-makers. With impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic in mind and the role that the paperboard packaging industry plays in local communities, the design theme this year was to create a packaging system for a community relief organization.