What is the Master Plan?
The Master Plan is a project designed to update and modernize Loma Vista Farm, a plan to bring the Farm into modern times. Many of the structures at Loma Vista Farm are more than 40 years old and were built with specific uses and purposes in mind. They have served the Farm and its mission well over the years. But today, 40 years later, many of the buildings and structures are in need of major repair and modernizing. Many of them are rotting and falling apart owing to age and heavy use. The time has come to rebuild and replace buildings so that they will continue to serve the Farm for the next 50 years.
We have an opportunity to modernize Loma Vista Farm at the same time that we rebuild and replace buildings. Today we look at things a little differently than we did when the Farm was designed and built in the 1970s. Things that are important today that were not in the past include:
- How our Farm animals live their lives. Are they happy and enjoying life? In California we place a high value on humane treatment of animals and find it unacceptable when animals are abused or neglected.
- How we use the Farm for educational purposes. Today’s information age and high-tech environment require us to learn in different ways. The Farm’s design and educational programs need upgrading to support the farm’s mission of supporting education. Mobile devices, Wi-Fi access, laptops, and computers are just a few of the new educational tools for children that didn’t exist back in the 1970s.
- Nutrition and what we consume as humans is more important today than it was years ago. Balanced diets and healthful food choices are at the top of the list for learning today. Understanding the importance of healthful food choices and what they are is key to success in learning.
- “Going green and organic” was futuristic, if thought of it all, back when the Farm was built. Today we demand it as the norm. The redesign of the Farm will allow us to complete the circle for conservation of water usage, animals’ waste usage in the gardens, and energy efficiency with use of alternative energy sources like solar.
