Merced College students plant more than 1,000 almond trees

MERCED, Calif. (KFSN) -- Merced College is celebrating a major step as students planted more than 1,000 almond trees across 10 acres of land.

The project will give students hands-on experience working with crops from planting to harvesting and selling.

The almond orchard is a collaboration between Merced College, the Almond Board of California and Duarte Nursery, which provided the trees.

Clarice Turner, the president and CEO of the almond board, says the key to maintaining the state's rich agriculture is educating young people.

"It's the hands-on experience that really hooks you into farming and really gets your heart involved in what it is people do every day in this state, feeding the country, feeding the world," she said.

"This is a one-of-a-kind program where we are literally teaching students from farm to store what it takes to be involved in the ag industry in a contextualized environment where they are going to be involved in every step of the process, including in our ag innovation center, which we're building right now," says Merced College President Chris Vitelli.

The school broke ground on the new ag-tec innovation center last year, and it's expected to open sometime this year.

It will house advanced processing equipment for fruits and vegetables, a training hub and community farm market.

Once the trees grow and produce almonds, they will be sold by students in the market.

The school also has plans for 30 acres of stone fruit and citrus, plus another 30 acres of other crops.