by Ken Smith
posted April 5
Ricardo Orellana grew up against the backdrop of a 12-year civil war in his native El Salvador, but his childhood memories are thankfully dominated by more peaceful recollections — namely, of working with the cows at his grandmother’s farm outside the small town of Usulutá.
“It wasn’t a large farm, just five or six acres with about 25 milking cows and a few other animals,” Orellana said during a recent interview. “She also grew cassavas, tomatoes, beans and corn. It was very rural, and how I fell in love with agriculture.”
In the ensuing decades, that passion has carried Orellana around the world, and most recently to Chico. Orellana was hired as the director of the Chico State University Farm last year, and this month will celebrate one year serving in that capacity. He is the first person of color and the first native Spanish speaker to hold that job, and brings a unique international perspective to the position.