Agriculture Courses

AGRI 005   19 credits
Hispanic Orchard Employee Education Program I
Designed for Hispanic orchard employees at a supervisory level. Includes basic instruction in Spanish emphasizing technical terminology in English in many facets of tree fruit production; basic math, practice in reading, writing, speaking and listening in English based in horticultural topics; and presentations of subjects concerning everyday life and citizenship.

AGRI 006   19 credits
Hispanic Orchard Employee Education Program II
Designed for Latino employees who have satisfied all the requirements of the first-year program (AGRI 005). Offers in-depth instruction in tree fruit production, applied English terminology and math. Includes presentations of subjects concerning everyday life and citizenship. Prerequisite: AGRI 005 or instructor’s signature.

AGRI 015   19 credits
Hispanic Orchard Employee Education Program III/Integrated Pest Management Technician
Intensive IPM program prepares Latino orchard employees as pest management scouts. Instruction, mostly in Spanish, emphasizes English terminology. Includes study of pests, field sampling techniques, pest management basics and record keeping. Includes basic math, reading, writing, speaking and listening in English, and discussion of everyday life and citizenship.

AGRI 016   19 credits
Hispanic Orchard Employee Education Program IV/Integrated Pest Management Technician
Taught in Spanish, this course introduces the principles and practices of farm management, including goal setting, developing a record-keeping system, cash flow, farm financial statements, balance sheets, budgets, personnel management, laws and regulations, legal forms, and food safety. Prerequisite: basic command of the English language.

AGRI 017   19 credits
Hispanic Orchard Employee Education Program V/Integrated Pest Management Technician
Taught in Spanish, this course introduces students to the production and management of wine grapes and their juices. Includes plant physiology, canopy management, soils, irrigation, plant nutrition, thinning, harvest, storage, marketing and vineyard financial management. Prerequisites: basic command of English language.

AGRI 030   1 credit
Private Applicator Certification in Spanish
Step-by-step instruction in Spanish in preparation for the USDA Private Applicator’s Exam. Designed for agricultural employees or agricultural land owners who want to obtain their private applicator pesticide licenses.

AGRI 101   3 credits
Survey of Agriculture
Profiles American agriculture and details challenges facing contemporary agriculture. Topics include food production, processing, resource management, global food supply and agricultural economics. Students discover rewarding agricultural career possibilities using career assessment and planning tools, such as educational portfolio development, to create a strategy for their professional future.

AGRI 102   1 credit
Cultures in Agriculture
This class explores the impact of Latinos in Washington state agriculture and rural communities, as well as, the means to bridge the Latino and Anglo cultures. It introduces the students to the common characteristics of the Latino cultures dominant in North Central Washington’s tree fruit industry.

AGRI 103   1 credit
Current Issues in Food Production/Safety
Introduction to food production safety practices in Washington state’s agriculture industry. Includes understanding the complicated matrix of food safety regulations, regulatory agencies, emerging issues and trends in food safety regulations, and concerns with agro-terrorism.

AGRI 104   3 credits
Personnel Management
Introduction to personnel management practices in Washington state’s agriculture industry. Topics include hiring and firing procedures, discrimination, motivation, coaching, conflict resolution, professional development, and performance evaluation.

AGRI 189   2 credits
Agriculture Leadership and Professionalism
Students schedule and attend industry-related events/activities or other self-initiated endeavors for leadership and professional development. Students enroll their first quarter, receive “work in progress” grades until their last quarter. A final letter-grade award is based upon a portfolio submitted/evaluated according to delineated criteria. Prerequisite: instructor’s signature.

AGRI 241   5 credits
Farm and Ranch Management
Introduction to record keeping, economic concept application and analysis in the production agriculture business. Topics include goal setting, record process, budgeting, cash flow, depreciation, profit/loss, ratios, enterprise and investment analysis, partial budgeting and computer/spreadsheet use. Prerequisites: ECON& 201, MATH 097.

AGRI 251   5 credits
Ecologically Based Pest Management
Classification, morphology, anatomy, growth and development, ecology and management of arthropod and pathogenic pests and noninfectious diseases of crop plants. Class emphasizes ecologically based pest management approaches.

AGRI 254   5 credits
Integrated Pest Management
Classification, morphology, anatomy, growth and development, ecology and management of arthropod, weed, disease, and vertebrate pests and their natural enemies. History of pest management that includes development of IPM strategies and tactics and how they are utilized in ecologically based pest management programs.

AGRI 255   5 credits
Orchard Integrated Pest Management
Lecture and lab oriented class emphasizing the use of integrated pest management (IPM) in deciduous fruit orchards of the Pacific Northwest. Identification and biology of insect, mite, disease and weed pests that effect fruits. Hands-on experience with current methods for monitoring and managing major pests.

AGRI 261   5 credits
Plant Science
Develops an understanding of basic plant morphology and physiology emphasizing horticultural science and fruit tree crops. Topics include form and function of plants, plant metabolism, plant growth and development, reproduction, techniques of fruit tree improvement, and plant/environment interaction.

AGRI 262   5 credits
Introduction to Pomology
Introduction to the horticultural principles and practices used in deciduous tree fruit production and orchard management. Topics include cultivars, root stocks, climate and environment, orchard systems, orchard establishment, pruning and training, flowering, pollination, fruit set, fruit growth and thinning, fruit maturation, harvest and storage, hardiness, and acclimation.

AGRI 263   5 credits
Soils
Introduction to basic concepts of soil science, plant nutrition and water management. Topics include soil formation and development, soil structure and composition, physical properties of soils, soils mineralogy, soil chemistry, soil fertility, fertilizers, irrigation management, and plant, soil and water relationships.

AGRI 264   5 credits
Tree Fruit Production I
In-depth studies of principles and practices of deciduous tree fruit production in the Northwest, including: fruit maturation and ripening, indexes of maturity, harvesting, fruit tree acclimation, hardiness, fruit anatomy, cultivar identification, rodent control, and orchard floor management. Laboratory includes extensive field work in teaching and demonstration orchards.

AGRI 265   5 credits
Tree Fruit Production II
Principles and practices of deciduous tree fruit production in the Northwest, including pruning, formation and renovation of bearing trees, care of non-bearing trees, rootstocks, inter-stems, dwarf fruit trees, tree structure, growth, orchard systems, orchard establishment in new and old sites. Laboratory includes extensive field work in demonstration orchards.

AGRI 266   5 credits
Tree Fruit Production III
In-depth studies of principles and practices of deciduous tree fruit production in the Northwest. Includes flower bud initiation and development, pollination, fertilization, pollinizers, fruit set and development, thinning and alternate bearing, frost control, fruit tree propagation, and summer pruning. Laboratory includes extensive field work in teaching and demonstration orchards.

AGRI 267   5 credits
Tree Fruit Production IV
In-depth study of principles and practices of deciduous tree fruit production as applied to the Pacific Northwest, including orchard floor management, summer canopy management, tissue sampling and analysis, tree row volume, sprayer calibration, irrigation scheduling, orchard mechanization, and nursery management. Laboratory includes extensive fieldwork in teaching and demonstration orchards. Prerequisites: AGRI 251, 254, 255, 261, 262, 263, or instructor’s signature.

AGRI 271   5 credits
Agriculture Sales and Marketing
Study of receiving, packing line/processing operation, grades, standards and quality control. Includes how these functions influence postharvest production and marketing/sales decisions. Study and evaluation of market development potential for direct marketing and standard marketing channels. Study of the sales function and potential for value-added agriculture products.

AGRI 289   5 credits
Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems
Examination of social, economical and ecological consequences of the modern, industrial agriculture paradigm. Topics include history of agriculture, worldviews, the sustainability concept, alternative agriculture systems, world food systems, agroecology, ecological economics, biotechnology, local food systems and the geography of hunger.

AGRI 196/296   1-5 credits
Work Experience
Industry internship for tree fruit production students to learn and apply skills and knowledge gained in the WVC Tree Fruit Program. Interns will be placed in commercial orchards, warehouses and/or agribusinesses. Includes development of educational goals relative to internship program and professional aspirations, and on-site visitation by instructors. Prerequisite: instructor’s signature.