Focus Agriculture Selects Leaders for 2024
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. Class 33 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;
Nicholas Solano,
Sergeant, Community
Policing Division, Santa
Cruz County Sheriff’s
Department; and Lois
Sones, Program Director,
Community Bridges
Elderday. Each year, more applications are received for this program than spaces available, and the Agri-Culture Board of
Directors selects 20 participants. See box for the complete list for 2024.
The program consists of nine daylong sessions, held over eight months.
The first session will be held on Friday, March 15.
Speakers ranging from farmers to elected officials, to representatives from environmental groups will address the class. The sessions will cover such topics as ethnic groups in agriculture, new technology, and the diversity of commodities locally grown. In addition, there are many farm tours and hands-on experiences.
Participants also spend one day working on a farm.
In announcing the selected participants of Class 33, Agri-Culture President
Steve Bontadelli, stated, “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.