Upwards of 30 Weston Ranch High agricultural students along with instructors have secured Manteca Unified board approval for a trip to the Dominican Republic this summer.

The eight-day trip will give participants the opportunity to learn about agriculture — both subsistence farming and the workings of the business of exporting crops — in the Caribbean nation.

The trip will allow students to tour coffee and banana plantations as well as get a feel for how the ag export market works.

The students will need to raise the $3,500 cost per participant to go on the trip.

The trip dovetails into the district’s robust efforts to provide a strong basic foundation in education for students exploring careers in that field.

The district agricultural education programming that includes a school farm and ag-related shop classes as well as in-class instruction along with FFA programs is part of its career path education

Agriculture crop production during 2024 in California exceeded $61.2 billion, padding its substantial lead as the nation’s leading farm state.

It supports a year-round ag workforce of 882,000 jobs with many featuring head-of-household wages that range from mechanics to chemists.

The state in 2024 had an estimated 413,000 to 420,000 seasonal farm jobs that primarily harvest more than 400 crops grown in California.

San Joaquin County generated $3.146 billion in farm production receipts in 2024 supporting roughly 9,000 jobs in all functions from farm work to transportation and processing.

San Joaquin ranks as the seventh largest county in both California and the United States in terms of farm production.

Based on world bank data for various nations, San Joaquin County — if it were a nation — would have the world’s 88th largest farm production between Croatia at $3.15 billion and Slovakia at $2.88 billion.

California, if it were a stand-alone nation, would rank ninth before Russia ($59.64 billion) and after Mexico ($69.77 billion).

California is a major exporter of ag products with jobs in that sector expected to grow. The state already exports 70 percent of its almond crop to 90 countries.

Exporting high value crops is part of San Joaquin’s economic strategy to generate more future employment.

Last year, the San Joaquin County Board of Superiors moved forward with developing a game plan to make Stockton Metro Airport an air cargo perishable facility for Northern California growers to ship perishable crops such as fruit overseas.

A preliminary assessment indicated there is sufficient potential demand to support a more thorough assessment to determine if perishable cargo at the airport would be able to bolster the regional economy.

 One key finding in the preliminary assessment was that most international air cargo operations in the U.S. serve imports, with excess capacity currently available for exports.
Exports from the U.S. can be considered ‘backhaul’ for cargo jets to assure they are carrying as much cargo as possible.

While perishables are not typically a high value commodity that can bear the higher transportation costs of flying, the excess U.S. export air cargo capacity creates a unique opportunity for producers to serve targeted foreign markets with unique perishable products at marginal air transportation costs basically at least cost in order to fill excess capacity on jets leaving the United States.
The perishable market study will also touch on the biomedical market.

The Phase II assessment is focusing on regional producer’s logistics needs, the identification of potential private sector partners, including air carriers, freight forwarders, real estate developers, and other stakeholders, and an action plan to develop the new market if it is determined to be operationally and financially feasible.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com