SQctlon 3, page 10



BY SUE BOYLAN
Daily Staff Writer
. “No broccoli today?”

asked the woman as she
looked over the boxes of
produce.

aNe answered
agricultural business
major Mark Muscato
“That’s not my project.”

Mark grows and markets
mixed vegetables through
the crop science depart-
ment’s student enterprise
project. Mark, and one of
his three partners in the
project, soil science major
Dave Dyer, sold some of
their harvest at the Far-
mer’s Market in the



Poly students Rich Jose and Rick Bernardi peddle their artichokes to an
unidentified customer. The artichokes were grown on campus. (Bottom)
Glenn Johnson opens up shop in the back of his van.

e
"Mustancbally

parkmg lot of Giant Foods

Parking lot on Broad

Street in San Luis Obispo.

The School of
Agriculture has many
enterprise projects dealing
with livestock, poultry,

fruits and vegetables. The

crop science projects are
open to any student who
aPplys, but priority is
given to department

students, said Charles
ee cro sci

Crop science major, Pete
Gumas, was also out on the
rainy Saturday morning
before Easter to sell the
peas he and three other Cal
Poly students grew as part
of their project.

Students can earn money
from the projects, but a

percentage of their profits
are paid back to the Cal
Foly Foundation. No
credits are given.



Mustang Daily—Ray Acevedo



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Atlee said this example
of Cal Poly’s learn by doing
motto is “‘a better learning
experience than in the
classroom.” Students are
able to take the classroom
information and use it to
grow, harvest and market
a crop. he said.

Dyer said the program
has helped him to start
“thinking like a farmer.”

Gumas wused the op-
portunity provided by the

,Students harvest the green

project to “see if I was cut-
out for it (farming),” and to
learn first hand about
growing and marketing a
crop. Gumas said he found
out he doesn’t like- the
manual labor involved in
harvesting peas. ‘‘It’s long
and laborous.”

This year, Atlee said, the
pea growing season was
affected by the weather,
forcing the students to

e harvest the crop all at

once, instead of being able
to - plant the seeds
periodically to allow for
staggered harvesting.

Weather, midterms and
finals all effect the amount
of time students must, and
are able, to spend farming,
Atlee said.

The work Gumas and his
partners put into their crop
paid off. He sold 25 pounds
of the peas he brought to
the market to one woman.

Atlee said the. woman
planned to entertain
members of her visiting
family by having them get
together to talk and shell
the fresh peas. ‘‘She said it
would be cheaper than
taking them to the movies
for the afternoon,” Atlee
said."

The farmer’'s market
isn’t the only place where
enterprise project produce

is available. Students have








sold produce to grocery
stores and restaurants in
the county, as well as to
the campus store and to
Cal Poly food services for
use in the cafeterias.

Atlee saxd the project.s
‘“‘aren’t terribly &ucratwe
but students can earn
money. Dependmg on the
market price for the
produce, the crop yield : and
effort put in by the
students, the project
farmers could earn from
five cents to five dollars an

hour. he said.

‘The students grow a

- very good quality product

according to Atlee. They
aren’t allowed to advertise
Cal Poly produce, so they
must rely on word of
mouth for business, he
said.

The cost of the produce
is kept “fairly on par with
the market,” Atlee said.
“We have a gentlemen's
agreement with local
merchants. ‘They know
that we won't try to un-
dercut thexr price.’ :

Right now, the en-
terprise project fields are
in a quiet period, near the
end of the current harvests
and not far into the
growing cycle of new crops.

- Atlee said activity will pick

up and enterprise project
produce will be aailable on
the market again dunng
the summer.