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A legacy of learn by doing
A Century of Cal Poly Agriculture
For 125 years, Cal Poly’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences has helped shape the future of farming, food systems and environmental stewardship in California and beyond.
Previous Issues
From fire lines and fire recovery, to summer terms at sea, student hands-on opportunities continue to expand.
Fall 2025: Fighting Fire with Fire
Kick off the 2025-26 academic year by meeting our new dean, Brian Horgan and our new major, Marine Transportation, learning about new facilities and the people making them happen, what's next for Swanton Pacific Ranch and how a group of students spent their summer on a fire line. All this and more in the Fall 2025 Cultivate.
Summer 2025: Growing Together
In June, three members of the Godoy family walked across the stage after completing their degrees at Cal Poly, while a fourth finished his first year as an undergraduate. Learn more about their journey as well as how a recent grad spent a year in Mexico City teaching agriculture and leadership development and meet a soil scientist in the making.
Spring 2025: Geospatial Systems
In this issue of Cultivate you'll see how students are advancing wildfire research through LiDAR technology, generating intrigue through olive oil, pioneering pacemaker research, brewing hard apple cider. Oh yeah and a Q&A with a Cal Poly logger who is also a CAL FIRE helitack firefighter.
Fall 2024: Strawberry Center Celebrates 10 Years
Over the past decade the Cal Poly Strawberry Center has grown into a premier institute. In this issue you'll learn how. You'll also see how professors and students are helping to determine the environmental impacts of fire retardants used on wildfires and meet the Cal Poly Floral Shop, an alum who just became an Olympic medalist and another who is carrying on her father's legacy.
Summer 2024: The Latest Land Management Tool in Preventing Wildfires: Goats
Are goats the new GOAT of wildfire prevention? Learn why they may be and how a series of fires in Chile is helping wildfire research at home. And meet the Cal Poly Mule Packing Team and the students who are on the forefront of agriculture robot research that seeks to produce more food efficiently.
Spring 2024: Sprouting Success
The college continues to invest in student success with the Plant Sciences Complex and the Animal Health Center, breaking ground in the spring. Also in this issue you'll learn about the students caring for a cohort of exotic leopard tortoises, how a partnership between Cal Poly’s nutrition and athletics programs is fueling players’ performance and so much more.
Preparing Students to Make Headlines
Students within the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences are changing the university, their communities and impacting the world.