Press Release: SEEAG Awarded USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant - Ventura County Agricultural Education

Ventura, Calif. (December 19, 2016)– Students for Eco-Education and Agriculture (SEEAG), a nonprofit organization that helps young students understand and appreciate the origins of their food, has been awarded a USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant through the California Department of Food and Agriculture. With the grant funds, SEEAG will be able to expand its education effort to an additional 10,000 youth over a two and a half-year period.

SEEAG uses lemons and other specialty crops to demonstrate food science and nutrition lessons. The goal of its “Journey of a Lemon and California Specialty Crop Nutrition Program” highlights the importance of eating healthy and nutritious fruits, vegetables and other specialty crops grown in California.

“The grant will allow SEEAG to further develop its nutrition education efforts,” says Mary Maranville, SEEAG Executive Director. “We are already bringing elementary-aged students from Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties to our Farm Lab at Petty Ranch in Saticoy. These field trips are completely free to the students and schools. We also conduct no-cost classroom presentations. Now, more schools can take part.”

To learn more about SEEAG, go to www.SEEAG.org or contact Maranville at mary@seeag.org, 805-901-0213.

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About SEEAG

Founded in 2008, Students for Eco-Education and Agriculture (SEEAG) 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 school children 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 program, over 15,000 elementary school students 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.

Acknowledgement of Support

This project was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service through Grant 16-SCBGP-CA-0035. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USDA.