October 2015
www.cvbizjournal.com
OCTOBER
2015 VOL 11 • NUMBER 2
Business Journal CENTRAL VALLEY
1
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STOCKTON • TRACY • LODI • MANTECA • LATHROP • ESCALON • RIPON MERCED • LIVINGSTON
MODESTO • CERES • TURLOCK • OAKDALE • PATTERSON LOS BANOS • ATWATER
Boosting college graduations Sunny Prospects State closes in on energy goal.
Page 6
College grants put focus on getting students to graduation By PATRICIA REYNOLDS Business Journal writer preynolds@cvbizjournal.com
Produce Pickup The meet-up solution to farm-fresh deilvery.
Page 25
Solo-k Retirement solution for the self-employed.
Page 42
WHAT’S INSIDE Publisher’s Notes.............Page 2 On the Web.......................Page 5 Community Voices..........Page 40 Briefs......................Pages 54, 55 Legals......................Page 56, 57 Who’s Hiring...................Page 58
TURLOCK — David Narciso is the first in his family to attend college. He will be the only one to hold a degree when he graduates next spring from California State University, Stanislaus with a Bachelor of Arts degree in geography. But Narciso’s path to graduation has not been an easy one. After attending Modesto Junior College, he transferred to Stanislaus State in the fall of 2012 and found himself struggling to navigate within the four-year university setting. “I was completely lost because I came from a junior college,” he said. “So to try to figure my way out coming from a different system, my first semester I was completely lost.” Thanks to recently awarded TRIO grants from the U. S. Department of Education, first generation University of California, Merced and Stanislaus
ELIZABETH STEVENS/CVBJ
David Narciso (left) and his friend, Paul Gutierrez (right) walk to class on the Stanislaus State campus. Narciso received counseling to help him focus on earning his geography degree.
State students like Narciso can receive help to reach graduation. Funding support services that increase the retention and graduation rates for disadvantaged students, TRIO programs evolved from three legislative educational outreach acts
passed in the 1960s. TRIO grants target students at the highest risk of dropping out, including students who are the first in their families to attend college. Starting with a new grant year that began Sept. 1, Stanislaus State is receiving $1.8 million over
a five-year period to assist firstgeneration, low-income, and disabled students. The university has received multiple TRIO grants in the past. “The overall goal of the Please see COLLEGE Page 10
Stanislaus County crop values at record high MODESTO — Stanislaus County farmers’ gross income hit an all-time high as they produced nearly $4.4 billion worth of gross products in 2014, according to the Stanislaus County Agricultural Crop Report, released Sept. 29. That total beat 2013’s total in gross crop production by more than $734 million or nearly 20 percent. The increase was due largely to
increased values of almond meats, cattle and calves, milk production, turkeys, silage and walnuts. Almonds alone accounted for a $224.2 million increase in agricultural revenue. The report also found the numbers could have been even higher if not for the state’s drought. More than 13,000 fewer acres were harvested mainly because of forced fallowing. Most of the acres that
went unplanted were vegetable and silage crops in western Stanislaus County. For the second consecutive year, almonds beat out milk as the county’s top grossing agricultural product at $1.4 billion. Milk, which prior to 2013 had topped the list for decades, was second followed by cattle, walnuts and chickens as the county’s top five money makers. The biggest change among the
top-10 products was a jump in turkey production from 2013. Bird values jumped from 16th in 2013 to seventh with $99 million worth of birds coming from the county in 2014. Overall, Stanislaus County ranked higher than 20 states in agricultural income and more than the bottom eight states combined. County products were shipped to 109 countries in 2014.
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