At the National Agriculture Day spring luncheon April 26 at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, the 2023 Al Smith Friend of Agriculture award was presented to Randy Repass and Sally-Christine Rodgers for their strong support of local agriculture and their tireless volunteerism.
Kelly Garcia Franklin of Mar Vista Elementary and her winning poster.
Kelly Garcia Franklin, 5th Grade, Mar Vista Elementary School, Aptos, won the poster contest with a pair of hands holding strawberries. Luke Zamora, 12th Grade, Pajaro Valley High School, Watsonville, won the poetry contest with “Grown in Santa Cruz County.”
The annual luncheon, coordinated by the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau and Agri-Culture, included presentation of scholarships.
Repass and Rodgers are supporters of the Agricultural History Project, the Wild Farm Alliance, and Agri-Culture, Inc., where Randy is on the board of directors.
They have been longtime members and supporters of the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau. During the pandemic, they provided significant funding for the Farm Bureaus farmworker vaccination program and emergency farmworker housing.
They sponsored the Albert and Alzora Snyder Restoration Barn at the County Fairgrounds, which served as a catalyst for the Agricultural History Project complex. And they sponsored the Buy Fresh Buy Local Campaign of the Community Alliance of Family Farmers.
They are strong supporters of conserving agricultural land in the Pajaro Valley while ensuring that the City of Watsonville can meet its needs. Both of them were significant supporters of Measure Q, which extended the Urban Limit Line in Watsonville for another 20 years.
Randy Repass (left) accepts Al Smith Friend of Agriculture Award.
In the early 2000s,they purchased Tynan Ranch, where Dick Peixoto started farming as a teenager, on Lakeview Road and protected this farmland from development in perpetuity by donating a conservation easement to the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County. Tynan Ranch is now farmed by Lakeside Organic Gardens, owned by Dick Peixoto.
Rogers recently organized Trash Talkers, a task force focused on combatting trash, illegal dumping and organizing cleanups resulting from encampments in Santa Cruz County.
Trash Talkers first convened in January of 2022, and have been formally endorsed by the County of Santa Cruz.
About 200 tickets were sold for the National Ag Day spring lunch at the county fairgrounds.
The award was announced and presented by Richard and Mary Travis, who received the award in 2022. This award is named after Al Smith who was the founder of Orchard Supply Hardware and donated 3,000 acres (Swanton Pacific Ranch) on the north coast to Cal Poly. The ranch has row crops, timber and a one-third-scale railroad, which was Al’s hobby. The award is on a piece of redwood with a train depicted on it. It is presented annually to an individual, business or organization not involved in production agriculture but has done much for the industry.
Student Winners
In the poster contest, second place went to Elijah Choy, 3rd Grade Delaveaga Elementary, and third place to: Jason Beltran, 5th Grade, Ann Soldo Elementary.
Honorable mention went to: Iliya Dobreu, 5th Grade Vine Hill Elementary; Cada Pouw, 3rd Grade Delaveaga Elementary; Rose Grace Eirich, 5th Grade Santa Cruz Montessori School, Aptos; Hadley Renezes, 5th Grade Mountain Elementary Soquel; Oliver Nakazawa Hewitt, 5th Grade, Delaveaga Elementary; Ayla Urquhart, 4th Grade Mountain Elementary; Carmen Lopez Zarco, 6th Grade, Lakeview Middle School.
In the poetry contest, 2nd Place went to: Vania Aldrete, 12th Grade “National Agriculture Day” Pajaro Valley High School; 3rd Place: Chloe Roberts, 7th Grade “Santa Cruz County” Twin Lakes Christian School, Aptos.
Honorable mentions went to: Adrian Andres Ayala-Ortiz, 12th Grade, “Cultivating Love,” Pajaro Valley High School; Jade Mazariegos-Munoz, 12th Grade, “Everyone’s Treasure,” Pajaro Valley High School; Rocco DeBernardo, 7th Grade, “The Beauty of the Crops of Santa Cruz,” Twin Lakes Christian School, Aptos; Yareli Zamora-Castillo, 12th Grade, “Our Crops,” Pajaro Valley High School;
Isla Hardy, 7th Grade, “Grown in Santa Cruz County: A Walk Through the Farm,” Twin Lakes Christian School, Aptos.
This year, the Agri-Culture organization streamlined its scholarship program so students could apply for multiple scholarships if they met the qualifications for each one. The winners were: Diego Ramirez, Priscilla Noh, and Madison Kelley.
Diego Ramirez, a senior at St. Francis High School, plans to attend Cal Pol San Luis Obispo in the fall, where he will major in agriculture science and then pursue a career as a notanist. Diego is an athlete who played football, track and field and cross country. He has served as class secretary since his junior year.
He was selected to receive $1,000 from the Jimmie Cox Memorial Scholarship, awarded the $1,000 JJ Crosetti, Jr. Memorial Scholarship, and the inaugural $1,000 Frank Prevedelli Memorial Scholarship.
Priscilla Noh, Watsonville High, Laura Brown Memorial Scholarship, $2,000. Priscilla plans to attend Master’s University in the fall and will major in agribusiness in hopes of pursuing a career as a sustainable farm/orchard owner. She has been a FFA member throughout high school, and served on its Ag Public Relations Committee from 2021-2023.
Madison Kelley, a junior at Modesto Junior College, will receive $3,000 from the Jimmie Cox Memorial Scholarship Fund and support from American AgCredit. The scholarship is in memory of Jimmie Cox, who owned C & N Tractors.
Madison was unable to attend due to finals. She is majoring in animal science and is transferring to Texas Tech in the fall. She hopes to pursue a career as an agriculture lawyer.
Farm Bureau President Dennis Webb was emcee for the event, for which 200 tickets were sold.
Sarah Newkirk, executive director, Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, spoke on “Conserving Working Lands in the Era of Climate Change.”
Notables in attendance include Santa Cruz County supervisors Felipe Hernandez and Bruce McPherson; Watsonville Mayor Eduardo Montesino; Scotts Valley Mayor, Jack Dilles; PVUSD Superintendent Dr. Michelle Rodriguez; Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County CEO Susan True; and Shadowbrook Restaurant owner Ted Burke.