Focus Agriculture Gears up for its New Class

The educational organization, Agri-Culture, is gearing up for Class XXII of the Focus Agriculture program.  

This national award-winning program educates community leaders about agriculture over a nine-month period. It's a “first-in-the-nation” program designed for community leaders to learn about agriculture in Santa Cruz County and the Pajaro Valley.

Class XXII members include: Kathy Previsich, Planning Director, County of Santa Cruz; Tim Brattan, Executive Director, California Grey Bears; David Dobson, Economic Development Manger, County of Santa Cruz; Reed Geisreiter, Senior Vice President, Comerica Bank; Susan Barich, Partner, Barich Business Services; Lorili Toth, Director, of Development & Communications, Elkhorn Slough Foundation.

The program consists of once-a-month, daylong seminars, held over a period of nine months starting March 25.  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 diversity of commodities locally grown. In addition, there are many farm tours and hands on experiences. The participants will spend one day working on a farm.

In announcing the selected participants of Class XXII, Agri-Culture President Bill Ringe, 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.”  

Jess Brown is the executive director of the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau and Agri-Culture, an organization that provides educational programs to the community and support to local farm workers.