Campus Farm Manager Spotlight: Mark Salwasser

Campus farm manager Mark Salwasser has played a vital role overseeing the 1,000-acre University Agricultural Laboratory and its 18 campus farm units that serve the academic, research, and community and industry outreach efforts for the Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.

Since starting full-time on campus as a vineyard manager in 1991, he has also served as a field crop manager, orchard manager and farm coordinator over the course of his 32 years working on campus.

Faculty, staff and students will miss the 1988 Fresno State plant science alumnus and his wealth of experience, tireless dedication and vision after he retires on Friday, May 5. In his retirement, he looks forward to spending more time with his family and grandchildren, serving his church (and helping with its food booth at the Caruthers Fair each fall), and enjoying sprint car races as an observer. 

Learn more about his roots on the farm that go back as a student assistant with the campus vineyard and Viticulture and Enology Research Center in this recent interview. 

Campus faculty and staff are invited to a Jordan College retirement event for him from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 2 in the Vintage Room next to the campus fountain.

 

Q: Talk about your current main responsibilities overseeing our 1,000-acre University Agricultural Laboratory.

“As the campus farm manager, I oversee 730 irrigated acres of crops, orchards and vineyards, nursery, animal units (beef and dairy cattle, sheep, swine, quarter horse and Foster Farms poultry), as well as the meat lab, creamery, Gibson Farm Market and farm maintenance department and the farm machinery center. I work closely with our Jordan College Dean as well as the Ag Foundation Board of Directors on financial matters as well as the long term planning for the farm.” 

 

Q: Did you work part-time on the farm as a student, and what were your responsibilities, as well as your full-time farm positions after that?

“I worked as a student part-time for most of time as a student at Fresno State. I first worked for Dr. Carter Clary in the Viticulture Research Center then later worked in the vineyard operations until graduation. I really enjoyed working in the vineyard as a student and thought that this would be a great place to make a career. Gino Favagrossa was the table grape manager at the time and when there was an opening for the wine and raisin technician, he gave me a call, and I was excited to apply and later was hired in May of 1991.” 

Q: What have been some of your favorite parts of your jobs on campus?

“Watching students mature while they are here on campus and then later in life connecting with them and seeing how successful they have been in their careers. Aside from that I have loved farming in general, raising a crop and seeing it harvested and sold is very rewarding."

 

Q: Have you been involved with any key events/programs/projects that you're extra proud of?

“I would say all of the replanting that has happened in the orchards and vineyards. Since I have worked here, all but seven acres of vineyard has been replanted (two acres of Thompson Seedless and five acres of Crimson) and only a few trees in the "teaching block" in the orchard remain from before my hire date. I have been involved in quite a few of these orchard and vineyard plantings, so I am really proud of all of these orchards and vineyards, and how they will be able to serve our Jordan College students for years to come.”

 

Q: Any other memorable moments related to work?

“I have been blessed to work with a lot of great people here at the University and many people in our ag community and will be forever grateful to gain friendships with so many great people.”

 

Q: Have you been involved with any campus organizations/committees/etc.?

“I have served on the University Ag Laboratory Committee for over 10 years and have chaired this committee for the past five years. I have been honored to be selected to participate in the President’s Leadership Academy in 2019-20 and also selected to be a CAIFE team member (Creativity and Innovation for Effectiveness) in 2018-19. Both of these experiences have helped me to grow as a leader and a manager, and I am grateful for these opportunities that this University has given me.”

 

Q: Who have been some of the most influential mentors for you on campus (and why)?

“There have been many, but I will highlight Dr. Sandra Witte as she mentored me as the farm coordinator and then as new farm manager before her retirement as our Jordan College Dean. Then, Dr. Dennis Nef, who mentored me through some difficult financial times on the farm as our Dean, as well as navigating COVID. I would also like to mention Mike Mosinski (a former campus farm manager), who has been a friend and a mentor going back many years, and I still reach out to him for advice.”

 

Q: Is there anybody else you would like to thank?

“I would like to thank my wife, Victoria, and my kids, Drake, Shane, and Audra, for also supporting me. I also want to thank my mom, Marie, for encouraging an 18-year-old kid that only wanted to work on the family raisin farm to give college a chance. If it was not for her encouragement to try college just for one semester, I most likely would not have ended up working here for the past 32 years.”  

 

Q: Do you have any retirement plans to share?

"I will be traveling to Des Moines, Iowa to celebrate the graduation of my son, Shane, from Drake University with his Juris Doctorate degree, and I hope to make a few more trips to the Midwest to attend dirt track races later this summer. I will continue to serve at my church (Immanuel Lutheran) and am looking forward to leading their food booth at the Caruthers District Fair during the last week of September (and the 20th year our church will host it). We give all of our earnings from the Caruthers Fair Food Booth to the Fresno Mission, and I will be praying for God to put other opportunities in front of me when the time is right.”