CFBF Young Farmers and Ranchers Leadership Conference

Young Farmers & Ranchers: Leadership Conference Achievement Award Excellence in Agriculture Award Discussion Meet Committee of the Year Spotlight Meet Your YF&Rs Calendar of Events Food Check-Out Week YF&R Gives Back Request Information

March 22-25, 2012

The 2012 California Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers and Ranchers Leadership Conference will be held March 22-25 in Modesto.

Who

More than 200 farmers, ranchers and agriculture professionals ages 18-35.

Highlights

Top notch speakers
Karen Ross, secretary, CDFA; comedian Tim Cavanagh; and nationally recognized agriculturalist Matt Rush.

CE Credits
Continuing education credits will be available to licensed PCAs on a variety of topics throughout the conference.

Networking
From tours and meals to breakouts sessions, a wine and cheese social and the awards banquet, you'll have plenty of time to visit with old friends and make new ones.

Breakout Sessions
Session topics include: fundraising for your YF&R programs, local and state water issues, financing for farmers, engaging in politics and more.

Tours
Tours are hosted by Stanislaus County YF&R. Spend a day touring some of the most interesting and innovative farms, ranches and agriculture facilities in the Central Valley.

Registration

Full conference registration is available starting at $135 per person and includes meals, sessions and tours. Individual meal tickets are also available for those not attending the entire conference.

Register Online with a Visa or MasterCard.
Download Registration Form (PDF, 183 KB) to mail with check.

Agenda

Download Tentative Agenda (PDF, 18 KB)

Location

All events, with the exception of tours, will take place at the Doubletree Hotel in Modesto.

Doubletree Hotel Modesto
1150 Ninth Street
Modesto, California 95354
(209) 525-3008

Lodging

$89 per night plus tax
For reservations, contact the Doubletree Hotel Modesto. Ask for the "2012 Young Farmers & Ranchers Leadership Conference" group in order to receive this special rate (group code CFB). You can also go online to make your hotel reservations. Deadline to receive the group rate is March 1, 2012.

Speakers

Karen Ross

Karen Ross
Karen Ross was appointed secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture on January 12, 2011 by Governor Jerry Brown. Ross has deep leadership experience in agricultural issues within our state, nationally, and internationally. Prior to joining CDFA, she was chief of staff for U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a position she accepted in 2009.

Before her time at the United States Department of Agriculture, Ross served more than 13 years as president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG), based in Sacramento. She also served as the executive director of Winegrape Growers of America, a coalition of state wine grower organizations, and as Executive Director of the California Wine Grape Growers Foundation, which sponsors scholarships for the children of vineyard employees.

For more information about Karen Ross, visit the California Department of Food and Agriculture website: www.cdfa.ca.gov

Tim Cavanagh

Tim Cavanagh
Tim Cavanagh has brought his comedic songs and inventive stand-up to concert halls, corporations, college campuses and nightclubs across America. He has been a regular guest on "The Bob & Tom Show," a nationally syndicated radio show now heard in 150 markets. Cavanagh has appeared on Comedy Central and was chosen by the network to do several live performances for their clients and customers. His national appearances include ABC-TV, Showtime, WGN, and Comcast. Visit his website: www.timcav.com.

Matt Rush

Matt Rush
Matt Rush is the fourth generation in his family to be a New Mexico farmer and cattle rancher. He grew up and currently resides in Roosevelt County, New Mexico, as did both his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.

He and his dad partner on a farming and ranching operation. To support his operation, Rush travels the country as a professional speaker conducting leadership and motivational seminars.

He was one of four selected to represent American agriculture in Germany as part of an agricultural exchange program and has been honored as the Students in Free Enterprise Alumnus of the Year and was recently appointed by the governor of New Mexico to become the newest State Fair commissioner and to serve on the Natural Lands Protection Committee. He currently serves as the executive vice president of the New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau and on the American Farm Bureau's Foundation for Agriculture board of directors.

He has served as a New Mexico FFA State officer. Has won state, national and international awards for his public speaking and co-authored a book on leadership titled, "Why Is No One Following Me?"

Rush is passionate about his values, the future of our children and American agriculture.

For more information about Matt Rush, visit www.newmexicomatt.com.

Breakout Sessions

Actively Engaged: Nationally recognized speaker Matt Rush will lead this session about how you can be actively engaged in the political process. From writing letters to the editor and walking precincts for a candidate to building a relationship with your legislator or running your own campaign, this session will offer a behind-the-scenes look at campaigns and involvement.
Plant protection and regulatory updates, CE Credits (two sessions available): Continuing education credits will be offered to licensed PCAs during two sessions focusing on plant protection and regulatory updates. These sessions are open to all conference attendees.
Cream of the Crop: This session shouldn't be missed! Join local farm leaders as they explain how they got their start and grew their farms, ranches and agriculture businesses into the success stories they are today.
Financing For Your Future: Wondering how you'll finance those big ideas of yours? You'll want to join Ted Reimers, vice president of American Ag Credit, for this session discussing financing options for young farmers and ranchers.
Leaderless Organizations: What We Can Learn from the Starfish and the Spider: Jill Casten, director of training and development for the American Farm Bureau Federation, will lead this session about how the power of decentralization is found in many relationships and networks. While the Farm Bureau organization has a great structure, the power of our grassroots nature taps into many of these principles of decentralization. In this example, if you cut off a spider’s head and it dies. However, if you cut off a starfish's leg and it grows a new one while also growing into a new starfish! We can definitely aim to be more like the starfish in our local Farm Bureaus.
Not Your Average Bake Sale (County YF&R Officers Only): Moderated by Jill Casten, director of training and development for the American Farm Bureau Federation, this discussion session about fundraising will be a special opportunity for YF&R leaders from around the state. Through idea-sharing and roundtable discussion, take a look at some of the innovative and distinctive fundraising events and activities that have been successful in today's economy.
Water in the West: Join a panel of local, regional and statewide water specialists as they discuss the intricacies of supply, storage and conveyance in California, both now and in the years to come.

Tours

Please Note: If attending a tour you must plan on riding with the group on the tour buses. Personal vehicles will not be allowed.

Restrictions apply at a variety of tour stops please contact our office at (916) 561-5590 before planning to bring a child on the tours.

Eastern

Dutch Hollow Farms
Dutch Hollow Farms is a family-owned business that grows flowers, fruits and vegetables. In the spring they host a U-pick tulip farm and in the fall a pumpkin patch. Year-round, Dutch Hollow offers something for your family.

Burroughs Family Farms
In Merced County under the majestic gaze of Half Dome and the Central Sierra Nevada Mountains, Ward and Rose Marie Burroughs farm with their children and their families, carrying on a legacy of farming that has been a part of their heritage for more than a century.

Full Circle Dairy, B & B Pastures, California Cloverleaf Farms Company organic milk is distributed under the Organic Valley Family of Farms brand, and Burroughs Family Farms is the marketing flagship for all other products produced by the family's organic and grass-based enterprises, which include almonds, beef, award-winning Gouda cheese, eggs, goats, olive oil, chickens and turkeys.

Full Circle Dairy, B & B Pastures, California Cloverleaf Farms, are organic seasonal grass-based dairies designed and operated with simplicity using nature, concentrating on environmental and financial sustainability. Vista Livestock Company's almond farm is both conventional and organic. It combines the Mediterranean climate of the San Joaquin Valley with good soils and water to grow the world's finest quality almonds on their rolling hills.

Duarte Nursery
Duarte Nursery, Inc. is a family-owned and operated nursery located near Modesto. Duarte Nursery is the largest permanent crops nursery in the United States, with a history of aggressively marketing innovative products. Their full list of products include grapevines, almond trees, walnut rootstock, pistachio rootstock, stone fruit trees, citrus trees, cherry trees, pomegranate trees, blueberries, blackberries and olive trees.

The Duarte Nursery tour will exhibit the evolution of a vine from grafting through to a healthy, ready-to-plant product. The tree portion of the tour will take you through Duarte Nursery's state-of-the-art Dry Creek Laboratory, and will showcase propagation of the clonal tree rootstocks from shoot tip cultures.

E. & J. Gallo Winery
Since its inception, the hallmark of E. & J. Gallo Winery's founders has been their unwavering commitment to quality. The winery continues to be at the forefront of the winemaking industry by researching and determining the very best regions to grow grapes, using the most effective techniques for grape growing, and employing the best ways to craft world-class wines.

At the administration building, guests are presented with the history of the company and shown the special design features of the Modesto headquarters. The tour then proceeds to the underground cellar, bottling, warehouse, and glass plant. Guests are also given information on the research facility, lab, winemaking, spirits plant, G-3 enterprises, creative services and Gallo technology center.

The tour focuses on the Modesto facility, but will discuss the North Coast, Central Coast, and other Central Valley facilities, as well as give some information about winemaking and vineyard management at Gallo.

Western

Flory Industries
Flory Industries is considered the leader in the field of nut-harvesting equipment, with sales worldwide for harvesting almonds, cashews, chestnuts, figs, hazelnuts, macadamia, pecans, tung nuts and walnuts. Flory Industries manufacturing facilities and offices are located on the original property in Salida, California. They have been repairing and building farm machinery since 1936, and now concentrate on building nut-harvesting equipment, flail mowers, vineyard equipment, as well as custom contract metal fabrication.

Stewart & Jasper
Since 1948, Stewart & Jasper has been immersed in California agriculture. Its founders, Romain Stewart and Lee Jasper, recognized the potential of California almonds as a west side crop in the mid-1950s, and planted their first of many orchards. From a modest beginning, Stewart & Jasper gradually expanded and became an integrated operation involving thousands of acres. They are a leader in hulling, shelling, processing and marketing almonds through both wholesale and retail channels.

Fiscalini Farmstead
The Fiscalini dairy farm in Modesto was founded in 1912 by current owner John Fiscalini's grandfather. They can trace their cheesemaking and dairying traditions back to the year 1705. That is three centuries of experience, and eight generations of passing traditions from father to son about animal care and milk quality. The Fiscalini dairy farm is family-owned and family managed. Currently their family owns and manages 530 acres (460 acres in crops, 70 acres of facilities) and milks 1,500 cows three times each day. The majority of the animals are registered Holsteins, with some Jerseys and Brown Swiss cows. They grow three crops each year on the farm: wheat in the winter, corn in the summer and sudan grass in the fall. The wheat and the corn are chopped for silage as forage for the cows, and the sudan is chopped to be used for electrical generation in the methane digester.

The Fiscalinis make cheese as they would in Europe. Each wheel is a labor of love, delicately made by hand in open vats, where the talented cheese makers' dedication and experience determine the outcome of the final product. The Fiscalini's produce the electricity to run the entire farm with an anaerobic digester which produces methane as a fuel, from cow manure and other waste products.

E. & J. Gallo Winery
Since its inception, the hallmark of E. & J. Gallo Winery's founders has been their unwavering commitment to quality. The winery continues to be at the forefront of the winemaking industry by researching and determining the very best regions to grow grapes, using the most effective techniques for grape growing and employing the best ways to craft world-class wines.

Southern

A. V. Thomas Produce
A. V. Thomas Produce is a leader in the distribution of organic and conventional sweet potatoes and yams. On the tour you will learn why Livingston is one of the special places in the country with the right combination of warm climate and light, sandy soil necessary to grow sweet potatoes. A.V. Thomas Produce will share the history behind their operations, discuss their vertically integrated operation as a leading packer, shipper, grower, and how they creatively meet consumer demands by offering conventional sweet potatoes and yams, organic sweet potatoes, and the microwave packed single serve sweet potatoes.

Sierra Grain Terminal
Sierra Grain Terminal is a high speed rail car unloading facility for commodities in Hughson, CA. Three feed companies have processing and unloading facilities on the grounds, including Associated Feed & Supply Co. rolled grain facility. Associated Feed & Supply is owned by the Swanson Family and has provided a full line of commodity mixed feed, hay and mineral products to the dairy and poultry industry since 1971.

Wend Tyler Winery
Wend-Tyler Winery is a small family-owned winery located just outside Modesto. Dave and Suzanne Tyler released their first vintage of Chardonnay in 2002, and have been producing small lots of estate-grown wines each year. Owner, grower, and wine maker Dave Tyler will share his story of starting out, the not so glamorous life of a wine maker, and the marketing efforts which have landed his wine in retail outlets in Japan.

Foster Farms
Founded by Max and Verda Foster in 1939, Foster Farms remains family owned and operated to this day and is committed to providing high quality poultry products.

Foster Farms' processing plants are among the most modern and technologically-advanced processing operations in the nation, highly efficient and sanitary, with comprehensive food quality control and safety management systems in place. The poultry is minimally processed, which means it is handled only as necessary to clean it and make it ready for purchase. Each bird is hand-inspected by U.S. government inspectors on site. They exceed USDA regulations in every part of production and product specification.