California family donates 390-acre historic ranch to Cal Poly after 150 years

After 150 years of farming, the Brughelli family has donated its historic 390-acre ranch in San Luis Obispo County to Cal Poly. The property, located just south of the county’s regional airport, will become a living classroom where students can study agriculture, conservation, water management and natural-resource stewardship. According to Cal Poly’s announcement, Brughelli Ranch contains 100 acres of irrigated Class I soil, four interconnected wells and a seven-acre reservoir, along with dry-farming and additional plantable acreage. The land is already protected by an agricultural conservation easement and enrolled in the Williamson Act, ensuring that its agricultural identity will continue. The gift also preserves a family legacy that began with Aurelio Brughelli’s work on the ranch in 1928 and continued through generations of farming, land care and community involvement.A working ranch with a long historyBrughelli Ranch is not an empty tract waiting to be developed.