“The beautiful rolling hills of the Pierce Farm and the white wood fences that divide it from the city mark the San Fernando Valley as a different kind of place in Los Angeles, a place that treasures California’s land. Here city people have fruit trees that produce bountiful citrus crops in the dead of winter, and neighbors knock on the door to offer bags of home-grown zucchini and lemons. The Pierce Farm reminds us that knowledge and effort transform dirt and seeds into food and clothing; and Pierce College is a special place, where the accumulated knowledge of mankind is available to all who make the effort.” –Susan Shelley
“My maternal grandfather was a farm laborer. He worked at a dairy on 92nd street in South Central Los Angeles. This is where my mother was raised. My father was born and raised in East Los Angeles. In 1946, Los Angeles County was the number one agriculture county in the nation. Growing up in Central Los Angeles I was able to see small farmers and ranches, orchards and people who seemed to work very hard to put the food on our plates.
My first milking of a cow was at an Adhore Dairy located on 3rd street and LaCienga in 1961. In 1968, I experienced Pierce College farm for the first time while running cross country for Fairfax High. The following year my family moved to Chatsworth. I have been associated with Pierce College farm ever since that time. I started as a cow milker and a farm tour guide in the summer of 1971. The “Day on the Farm” program (Community Services) brought in 20,000 inner city children to the farm every year. McDonalds and Carnation Co. provided a free lunch for our visitors. We provided a first time opportunity for children to see a working farm, farm animals and a possible vocation when they finished their schooling. Pierce College farm gave me this same opportunity.
In 1976 I was hired as the dairy herdsman and dairy instructor. We, at that time, had 114 head of dairy cattle, 250 sheep, 250 pigs, 320 beef cattle and approximately 6000 chickens. We also had a 15 acre orchard (avocados, citrus, deciduous trees, grapes, a greenhouse, lathe house and floriculture program). We had more acreage on the campus and on the farm than we currently have.
In the past 40 years I have helped teach in excess of 12,000 students. 228 of these students have been accepted into one of more graduate schools of veterinary medicine. I am very proud of them. The attached photo of this young girl on a farm tour summarizes my hope for the future of Pierce College’s Agriculture programs and the farm. I want the farm to continue to inspire the love of life that can only be felt on a farm, the ah of new birth, a growing seedling, the harvesting of fresh hay, the picking of an avocado or an orange from a tree. Pierce College farm needs to survive any economic down fall. Pierce Farm needs to be labeled as a conservancy easement or preserve and an endowment needs to be built to safeguard this irreplaceable jewel.”
Dr. Leland S. Shapiro, Chair
Agriculture Department
Director, Pre-Veterinary Science Program
Fellow, National Academies of Practice
L.A. Pierce College
6201 Winnetka Ave. Box 1052
Woodland Hills, CA 91371
818-710-4254
shapirls@piercecollege.edu
http://www.piercecollege.edu/departments/agriculture/
Agriculture Department
Director, Pre-Veterinary Science Program
Fellow, National Academies of Practice
L.A. Pierce College
6201 Winnetka Ave. Box 1052
Woodland Hills, CA 91371
818-710-4254
shapirls@piercecollege.edu
http://www.piercecollege.edu/departments/agriculture/
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