Intensive leadership training and a focus on issues affecting California farmers and ranchers lie ahead for the 10 people chosen for the 2015 class of the Leadership Farm Bureau program. The Class of 2015 was formally introduced this week during the annual California Farm Bureau Federation Leaders Conference in Sacramento.
Leadership Farm Bureau is a leadership-development program sponsored by CFBF that includes classroom sessions in advocacy training, communications, team building, leadership methods, media training and Farm Bureau policy development. Field sessions will include tours in both Northern and Southern California that will allow deeper exploration of issues including water development and immigration policy.
Members of the Leadership Farm Bureau Class of 2015 include:
- Adam Boles of Orland, who grows rice and row crops, operates a small trucking fleet and serves as second vice president of the Glenn County Farm Bureau;
- Heidi Braziel of Herald, who grows hay and serves as program coordinator for the Sacramento County Farm Bureau;
- Mary Lou Coffelt of Hollister, a cattle rancher who is program director for the San Benito County Farm Bureau Agriculture in the Classroom program;
- Natalie Collins of Lodi, a program director for the San Joaquin Farm Bureau Federation who focuses on agricultural education;
- Russell Doty of Goleta, who grows avocados and lemons and serves as second vice president of the Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau;
- Nick Ferrari, who grows walnuts in Linden, serves on the board of the San Joaquin Farm Bureau and serves as secretary of the San Joaquin Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee;
- John Guthrie of Porterville, who grows almonds, citrus fruit, walnuts and row crops and raises cattle, and serves on the Tulare County Farm Bureau board of directors;
- Ritta Martin of Orland, who raises goats, assists in a family beef and sheep ranch, works for the Glenn County Resource Conservation District and serves on the Glenn County Farm Bureau board of directors;
- John Moore III, who grows potatoes near Bakersfield and serves on the board of the Kern County Farm Bureau;
- Breanne Ramos of Turlock, who works as a project specialist for the Merced County Farm Bureau and the East San Joaquin Water Quality Coalition.
The Leadership Farm Bureau class will meet throughout 2015, culminating in graduation at the CFBF Annual Meeting in Reno in December. For further information about the Leadership Farm Bureau program, see www.cfbf.com/lfb.