Twenty community leaders have been selected for Class 33 of the Focus Agriculture program. This “first-in-the-nation” program is designed for community leaders to learn about agriculture in Santa Cruz County and the Pajaro Valley.
Zeke Fraser
Class members include: Hilary Bryant, donor services director, Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County; Peter Detlefs, principal administrative analyst, County of Santa Cruz; Zeke Fraser, CEO/Secretary Manager III & fair manager, 14th District Agricultural Association; Sgt. Nicholas Solano, Community Policing Division, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office; and Lois Sones, program director, Community Bridges Elderday.
Nicholas Solano
Lois Sones
Plus: Steven Allen, president/CEO, Allen Property Group, Drew Clowser, marketing manager, Lakeside Organic Gardens LLC, Leah Cowan, government relations, Sutter Health, Liz Dasher, fund development director, Hospice of Santa Cruz, Brent Dunton, VP, senior business banking Officer, Santa Cruz County Bank, Ramon Gomez, chief of staff, Santa Cruz County Supervisor Felipe Hernandez, Vance Landis, founder/CEO & president, Gateway Health Management/Heritage Farms, Sara Lozano, marketing & product development, Sambrailo Packaging, Sarah Newkirk, executive director, Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, Forrest Revere Board of Supervisors analyst, Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend, Meggie Rhodeos, admitting & business services manager, Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center, Jenna Rivera, community engagement specialist, Driscoll’s, Inc., Amy Ross, director of patient services, Salud Para La Gente, Matt Sparke, professor & director of global & community health, UCSC, Tracey Weiss, executive director, O’Neill Sea Odyssey.
The Agri-Culture Board of Directors selects the 20 participants.
Hilary Bryant
Peter Detlefs
The program consists of nine daylong sessions over eight months, starting Friday, March 15. Speakers ranging from farmers, to elected officials, to representatives from environmental groups will address the class on topics such as ethnic groups in agriculture, new technology, and diversity of commodities locally grown. There are many farm tours and participants will spend one day working on a farm.
Agri-Culture President Steve Bontadelli, said, “Community leaders will find this program beneficial and, in turn, growers who present information to the class will learn the public’s current perspective of local agriculture. The program is designed to be a two-way learning process.”
The Focus Agriculture program received a national award for its innovative approach to bringing the public and the agricultural community together.