March 2014 - Will Terry - Ventura County Agricultural Education

Hi SEEAG Friends,

Ventura County is STRAWBERRY COUNTRY. Our VC Farmers grow close to $700 million worth of strawberries a year ranking it the number one crop. Truly amazing.

Meet Will Terry of Terry Farms, Inc. and member at large of Young Farmers and Ranchers.

March 2014: If you ever want to be in awe of our local farmers and agricultural workforce please stop and look out over several hundred acres of strawberry fields on a gorgeous spring day.   Then think about the incredible amount of planning, water, labor, transportation, distribution and all the other thousand details it takes to grow and get VC’s number one crop to market.   It’s NOT easy.  Will Terry is a descendent of the Terry Farms Inc berry empire and he knew from an early age the challenge of working in agriculture and took the challenge straight on.   He is one of the most knowledgeable, articulate, up and coming 

AG leaders in our county.

Terry Farms Inc. grows a variety of crops on 1,800 acres.  Strawberries only comprises 200 of those acres.   Will and his team also grow red, yellow, green bell peppers, orange, yellow and red mini peppers, jalapeños, celery on 700 acres, cilantro, spinach, cabbage and romaine.   Will went to Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, but by the time he got to school he already knew and had experience in the menial farm labor. His advice to the next generation wanting to enter into the farming profession is learn as much as you can about farming before you enter college.  Start with a series of summer internships, which will expose you to the diverse tasks farming offers. Then major in either plant science or business if you are planning on owning or operating a farm. “Then y

ou can apply your education right away”. Will said, “There are also huge opportunities in Food Safety and Human Resources, especially if you are bilingual.”

SEE AG is partnering with Young Farmers and Ranchers on VC Farm Day 2014 this year.  YFR is an offshoot of the Farm Bureau of Ventura County.  It’s an organization for young farmers and ranchers to collaborate, work on solutions in AG and network in the community.  Will was the Chairman of YFR and now explains he is a member at large.  I have to say I am very impressed with the group of YFR members I have met, including Susana Lamb, Mario De La Piedra, Jason Cole and others.  They are an extremely dedicated, progressive and hard working group of young AG professionals.   We are looking forward to working w

ith them much more in the future.

Thank you Will Terry for all your hard work.  SEE AG wishes you much success in your farming endeavors.   For more info. on Terry Farms visit – Terry Berries

VIDEO AND PHOTOS BY JOHN PHANEUF at www.johnphaneuf.com<