Ag Leadership That Make a Difference

Ag Leadership Applications for Class 51 Now Available

The Ag Leadership Program, operated by the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation (CALF), is considered to be one of the premier leadership development experiences in the United States. More than 1,300 men and women have participated in the program and are influential leaders and active volunteers in agriculture, communities, government, business and other areas.

The 17-month program includes approximately 55 days of formal program activities. Four partner universities—Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Fresno State and UC Davis—deliver comprehensive, diverse and high-impact curriculum designed to improve leadership skills. As a valuable extension to the monthly seminars, fellows participate in national and international travel seminars and receive individualized leadership development coaching.

CALF invests approximately $55,000 per fellow to participate in the Ag Leadership Program. The costs are underwritten by individual and industry donations. Candidates are strongly encouraged to talk with Ag Leadership alumni about the program and to attend a regional recruitment event.

Detailed program information and the phase one application are available at www.agleaders.org.

California Ag Today2020-01-08T10:41:57-08:00January 8th, 2020|

Calif. Ag Leaders Chosen for 50th Class

CA Ag Leadership Considered the Premier Leadership Program in U.S.

Twenty-four individuals have been selected for Class 50 of the California Agricultural Leadership Program, an advanced leadership development experience for emerging agricultural leaders. The new fellows will be inaugurated into the program on Oct. 10 at the Clovis Veterans Memorial District. The program, which inaugurated its first class in 1970, will celebrate its 50th anniversary in Monterey in October 2020.

Through dynamic seminars during an intensive 17-month program, fellows will study leadership theory, effective communication, motivation, critical and strategic thinking, change management, emotional intelligence and complex social and cultural issues. Seminars are delivered by four partner universities: Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Fresno State and UC Davis. Fellows will participate in 55 seminar days, including an eight-day national travel seminar and a 15-day international travel seminar.

“After an application and alumni-assisted interview process that witnessed a record number of applicants, we are very pleased to announce the 24 individuals making up Class 50,” said Barry Bedwell, president of the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation (CALF). “This distinguished group, made up of 12 women and 12 men, will begin their 17-month formal leadership program shortly, but more importantly, this is the start of a lifelong leadership process that will not only make them better leaders but benefit California agriculture as well.”

CALF invests approximately $55,000 per fellow to participate in the program, which is underwritten by individual and industry donations. Ag Leadership is considered to be one of the premier leadership programs in the United States. Since it was first delivered in 1970, more than 1,300 men and women have participated in the program and have become influential leaders and active volunteers in the agriculture industry and other areas.

Class 50 Fellows:

Celeste Alonzo, Junior Enterprises LLC, Coachella

Leeann Bettencourt, Bonipak Produce, Santa Maria

Tyler Blackney, Wine Institute, Sacramento

Adrian Calixtro, Wonderful Orchards, Selma

Yezmin Carrasco Valle, Reiter Affiliated Companies, Oxnard

Mitch Coit, Marv Coit Inc., Firebaugh

Kris Costa, California Milk Advisory Board, Turlock

Natasha Crivelli, Chris and Natasha Crivelli Farms, Dos Palos

Rocco Cunningham, R.O. Shelling & Barlas Feeds, Petaluma

Brian Gill, Gill Cattle/Nielsen Insurance, Exeter

Erin Gorter, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Templeton

Megan Grima, Stephens Ranch Inc., Yuba City

Ted Kingsley, Vann Bros., Williams

Lindsey Liebig, Sacramento County Farm Bureau, Galt

Holly Little, Acadian Seaplants, Walnut Grove

Julian Lopez, Imperial County, Imperial

Megan Marques, California Farm Bureau Federation, San Luis Obispo

Jonathan Merrill, Merrill Farms LLC, Salinas

Michael Newton, Newton Farms, Stratford

Erin O’Donnell, The Sun Valley Rice Company, LLC, Arbuckle

Brian O’Neill, Huron Orchard Services, Fresno

Matt Peyret, First Northern Bank, Woodland

Priscilla Rodriguez, Western Ag Processors Association, Fresno

Trevor Tagg, West-Gro Farms Inc., El Centro

California Ag Today2019-09-04T08:02:20-07:00September 4th, 2019|

CA Agriculture Leadership Transitions

CA Agricultural Leadership Transitions: Barry Bedwell to Head CALF, George Radanovich to Lead CFFA

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm News Director

There is a change in leadership at the Fresno-based California Fresh Fruit Association (CFFA), where Barry Bedwell has served as president for 13 years. The new president, as of August 1st, is former eight-term member of Congress for Mariposa County, George Radanovich, “and a five-year retiree in Mariposa, too,” said Radanovich.

“Don’t forget to add that,” he insisted. “Yes, the opportunity came up. My son King graduated from high school, and now he’s off to college at Ole Miss. This gives me the time to get back and start working on water and labor issues that I love—and being involved with the ag industry. The timing is perfect, and it’s a real exciting adventure for me.”

George Radanovich will head California Fresh Fruit Associaition

Radanovich served in Congress from 1995 to 2011, representing a big chunk of the Central Valley in California’s 19th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. While there, he served on the Committee on Energy and Commerce and its subcommittees: Communications, Technology and the Internet, Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection (Ranking Member) and Oversight and Investigations. Radanovich also served as co-chair of the Water Caucus, Congressional Wine Caucus and Congressional Croatian Caucus, as well as being considered an agricultural expert in areas related to water supply and immigration reform.

Barry Bedwell will now assume presidency of the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation (CALF), a non-profit corporation committed to leadership training and transformational learning experiences in partnership with California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo and Pomona; California State University, Fresno; and the University of California, Davis.

“I am excited about it,” Bedwell said. “I think it’s a great opportunity for myself and a chance to really take what I’ve learned over four plus decades in California agriculture and put it to good and practical use.”

Bedwell will be replacing Bob Gray at the Agricultural Leadership Foundation. “Bob Gray has done an absolutely fantastic job in really focusing the program more on leadership development,” noted Bedwell. “It is really doing personal coaching and working on leadership tendencies. When I was there thirty-four years ago in Class 13, the foundation tried to expose people in agriculture to things outside of the realm of agriculture; but now, they’ve taken it even a step further to say, ‘Here’s how to make you a better leader. Here is how to really strengthen your areas so that in the end, everyone coming out of this program will be a better person and representative for California agriculture.'”

Barry Bedwell Will lead the CA Ag Leadership Foundation

“The program has changed from 24 months down to 17 months, but it’s still a very valuable proposition,” noted Bedwell. “I think the estimated monetary value of what this means to the individuals involved is something like $50,000,” he said.

Bedwell brings to CALF a depth of experience in agriculture. “How do you develop the Leadership Program for maximum benefit?” asked Bedwell. “That’s where I think I can particularly help, knowing the issues that face California agriculture and what we have to deal with primarily in Sacramento. I think that will be a big help.”

Bedwell also emphasized the importance of keeping CALF alumni engaged. “With over 1300 graduates, this program is a powerful force out there,” he said. “We want to continue to build on what we have, and engagement with those alumni is critical, moving forward,” said Bedwell.

And perhaps certain alumni could be the new messengers to Sacramento. “What’s clear right now is we don’t necessarily have the right messengers. This Ag Overtime bill [AB-2757 Agricultural workers: wages, hours, and working conditions], which was reintroduced after failing in the Assembly a few weeks ago, has convinced me that although we went in and explained the negative impact it would have on employees, quite frankly, certain members did not believe us,” said Bedwell.

“We have to change the messenger, or the message gets lost sometimes,” Bedwell commented. “So that’s part of what we have to think about in looking at the future. We say the right things, but they are not getting through, so now we have to figure out how we get through,” Bedwell said.

California Ag Today2016-07-04T16:58:42-07:00July 1st, 2016|