Pierce College Farm

While there are some citizens (few in number) who believe that every opportunity cost should be undertaken in order to make or save money, most do not. Most citizens of Los Angeles realize the great loss to the city if Griffith Park were allowed to be sold, or public beaches long-term leased, to generate income for developing the inner city, to support the schools or to increase the size of our police force. These are natural treasures that can never be replaced or rebuilt.

Likewise, the Pierce College farm is a community treasure that has served its and surrounding communities for 50 years. Your cartoon and article description did a very poor job of describing the farm.

Yes, the farm spent $25,000 on hay and with that and another $25,000 in expenses generated $100,000 in milk sales. Of course, this part of the farm was sold because the individuals making the decisions sold the money-making units of the farm--only looking at the expense and not the income side of the ledger.

The Pierce farm, unlike your cartoon description, could be completely self-supporting. It does not drain money from other areas of the campus. In fact, the farm at times has supported other areas of the campus.

Our department was offered up to $10 million to set up a model farm that would help educate the community on where its food and fiber come from. That offer was rejected by our community college district. Some see the farm as a means of rescuing the poorly managed district from its financial woes by selling this precious land.

We are not antiquated. We, in fact, are well-respected by both industry and universities that accept our transfer students. I, therefore, challenge the current board of trustees to make our farm a preserve and thus accept the donations from industry and set up a permanent model farm for the community. Our community deserves it and should demand it.

Dr. Leland S. Shapiro

Director, pre-veterinary

science program

Pierce College