Best Ag Industry Leader | Best Local Ag Educator
Richard Chapman Rodriguez
Hartnell College
411 Central Ave., Salinas
(831) 755-6700, hartnell.edu
Sure, a good circus needs performers flying through the air, disappearing acts using water tanks, nimble toes walking the high-wire. But the people behind the scenes are just as important to the performance as the people in the show. Someone’s gotta run the big top operations, raising the tents and engineering the trap doors. Richard Chapman Rodriguez is our big top guy in ag, finding fixes to agricultural problems using his tech savvy to find solutions in robotics and integrating AI. As a Hartnell professor, he sets up the backdrop for his students, who take the robotics show on the road. But Rodriguez is only part of what makes Hartnell tops in ag education. From the basics of plant science to cutting-edge mechatronics, the school leads the way – year round. As George Carlin said, “just ’cause you got the monkey off your back doesn’t mean the circus has left town.”