Delta has negotiated a memorandum of understanding between the District and the San Joaquin Delta College Teacher’s Association to facilitate the development of an “Environmental Science and/or Regenerative Agriculture Certificate Program.”
The memorandum, made effective Sept. 10 and approved by the board on Oct. 7, will be funded through private grants from California Resources Corporation (CRC) and Carbon TerraVault (CTV).
The program, still under development, currently consists of two parts: a regenerative agriculture certificate and a carbon management sciences certificate.
“We we are looking at how we can capture carbon in the soils … which obviously leads towards … higher temperatures, climate change … regenerative ag is a way to increase our ability and improving the status of the environment through our farming practices,” said Lindsay Hofsteen, a plant science professor involved in the program.
At Delta, the program under development is being led by professors Tina Candelo-Mize, Hofsteen and Theron Sowers, who specialize in horticulture, plant science and geology respectively.
The regenerative agriculture certificate is being developed in partnership with California State University, Chico professor Cynthia Daley, who heads the Center for Regenerative Agriculture & Resilient Systems at Chico.
“We’d like to have is a program that’s essentially a pathway for students into that program at Chico and so it’ll probably be an associates degree … that way students can finish here at Delta after two years and maybe enter directly enter the workforce or they have the option to go to Chico state where they can continue their education in regenerative ag,” said Candelo-Mize.
While regenerative agriculture deals primarily in the agriculture industry, the planned carbon management sciences certificate is intended for those interested in where the agriculture and energy industries meet.
In the works are the development of new classes, including Introduction to Regenerative Agriculture, Introduction to Biotechnology, and a geology class relating to carbon sequestration.
“There’s one new course that will be developed. There are two courses that are not launched in the catalog quite yet … [they are] currently moving through the curriculum approval process and then there will be a geology class that will be developed to support understanding the science of carbon sequestration at the geological level, so that’ll be a new class. And then once that class is developed, then we can put it all together and launch the certificate,” said Candelo-Mize.
While updating existing courses does not require additional funding, according to Acting Associate Vice President of Career Technical Education and Workforce Development Joe Gonzales, a $2,000 stipend will be allotted to the faculty involved for the development of the new courses and other related work.
The new courses are expected to be launched by the summer of 2026 with the certificates ready the following year, pending approval.
The programs are also intended to focus on fulfilling local industry needs and providing the training and knowledge for students to do so.
“They could be farm managers, production managers … grower relations is another career. There’s also a demand for people in grazing so one of the aspects of regenerative ag is grazing livestock,” said Candelo-Mize.
According to Candelo-Mize, the programs’ implementation was in part inspired by the local industry publications on sustainability done through local bodies like the Lodi District Grape Growers Association.
“We pay attention to local labor market demands to prepare students for workforce realities upon graduation … we are working with industry to support this endeavor. All of our programs allow students to directly enter the workforce, this will be no different,” said Dr. Katrina Johnson León, Dean of Applied Science, Business and Technology.
As program development continues, Hofsteen, who worked in wine before becoming a professor, receives feedback from the community, including from those in the wine industry
“We’re just starting to build those connections for going out into the wine industry so I do have a couple folks … in my advisory committee … but there’s always an opportunity to add more folks,” said Hofsteen.
