At the root of all things agriculture are the traits of sustainability, resilience, patience and community to ensure success and growth.
Mustang Acres is the perfect example of the culmination of these traits through the foresight and guidance of Professor of Horticulture and Plant Science Tina Candelo-Mize.
Mustang Acres is a student-run farm on Delta’s Stockton campus that operates in conjunction with the Manteca farm.
New additions to the agriculture department are recently hired new faculty members, Lindsay Hofsteen, who teaches plant science and viticulture, and Kate Gaede who teaches ag business.
“We had a fairly successful tomato sale a couple of times and also sold tomatoes to culinary and the first two student chefs had produce from Mustang Acres,” Candelo-Mize said of recent Mustang Acres projects. “The sunflowers have run their course; we just harvested pumpkins. We sold some (pumpkins) at our last nursery sale which we have every second and fourth Friday of the month.”
Mustang Acres will be getting a new gate the welding students will be making after an unidentified driver crashed a car through the fence into the compost pile in the middle of the night several weeks ago.
This summer was the first peach harvest with just six peaches, but it’s a good sign meaning more bountiful harvests are ahead within the next year or two. Plums, apricots and cherries are expected to follow shortly after for fruit production harvests.
In two years, Mustang Acres will go from light to full harvests of the fruit trees as they come into full maturity. One goal is to be able to have U-Pick events once fruit trees are producing more heavily.
Looking to the future with projects with Mustang Acres, there are plans for increasing the number of vegetable starts that are grown at Delta in order to dial in production to be able to supply the Culinary Arts students and produce at the nursery sales. In addition, progress on firming up Mustang Acres relationship with the food pantry is in the works.
Candelo-Mize is exploring grant opportunities and currently applying for a NIFA (National Institute of Food and Agriculture) Grant in order to support staffing.
Students in agriculture classes aid the production of Mustang Acres, but additional staffing is needed to continue the operation throughout the year, especially during times when classes are not in session.
The hope is to supplement what is grown at Mustang Acres at Delta’s campus with what is grown at the Manteca farm on a larger scale.
“The vision for the farm is that it’s going to be essentially like a taste of San Joaquin,” said Candelo-Mize.
The permanent crops like trees and alfalfa that stay in the ground year after year will grow at the Manteca Farm. That would include olive trees for olive oil, cherries and almonds.
Mustang Acres will have seasonal produce items available at the next nursery sale, which are held on the second and fourth Fridays of the month. The next sale is today, Friday, Oct. 25 and will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The last sale of the season will be held at the end of November. Sales will start back up in the spring semester.
