The 2024 Crop Consultant Conference, hosted on September 25 and 26 in Visalia, Calif. in a collaborative effort by JCS Marketing Inc. and Western Region Certified Crop Advisers (WRCCA), offered its highest numbers of continuing education yet and provided the opportunity for consultants, industry suppliers, researchers and others to network and learn.
In addition to CCAs, PCAs and growers receiving much-needed continuing education credits during the Conference’s established dual education track, WRCCA also presented its fifth-annual Crop Consultant of the Year award and Allan Romander Scholarship and Mentor Awards.
Stephen Vasquez, executive director at Administrative Committee for Pistachios and WRCCA Board Chair, presented the awards.
CCA of the Year
The CCA of the Year award recognizes a CCA in the western region (North Valley, South Valley, Coast and Desert) of the U.S. who has shown dedicated and exceptional performance as an advisor. The ideal candidate leads others to promote agricultural practices that benefit the farmers and environment in the western region. Selection criteria includes a peer nomination process, a scope of the CCA work, special skills and abilities, professional involvement and mentorship and community involvement.
This year’s CCA of the Year winner was Franz Niederholzer, UCCE farm advisor in Colusa and Sutter/Yuba counties since 2002. Niederholzer is a UC Davis graduate in soil science and studies orchard mineral nutrition, rootstock evaluation, crop load management and airblast spray coverage and drift within UCCE and Nickels Soil Lab. Additionally, Franz was a member of the WRCCA Boad of Directors from 2006 to 2022. While on the Board, he served on the WRCCA Testing and Continuing Education Committee, including 10 years as committee chair.
Niederholzer shared some words about the importance of the CCA program.
“It’s a great honor to have been part of the Board, to have interacted with a number of really terrific individuals and to receive this as a surprise and a great honor because of the program,” he said. “There’s so much talent, decades of experience available to help agriculture and horticulture in general, not just ag, but anything that’s green that’s grown.”
Mentor Awards
The mentor honorariums award $500 to an agriculture educator who is training and mentoring the next group of consultants, growers and industry professionals.
Sangeeta Bansal, assistant professor of soil health in the Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology at California State University, Fresno; Lindsay Hofsteen, associate professor of plant science/viticulture at San Joaquin Delta College; Michael Kanyi, associate professor of agricultural education and environmental science at Imperial Valley College; and Nathan Dickens, adjunct professor of plant science at Los Angeles Pierce College were this year’s mentor award recipients.
Bansal plans to use the funds to order supplies, soil testing kits and purchase consumables to set up small-scale crop nutrition and soil health projects. Hofsteen plans to purchase lab supplies and updated materials for her plant science class and pruning tools for her viticulture class. Kanyi plans to acquire instructional resources for hands-on learning, specifically gardening tools and a hydroponic system. Dickens plans to use the funds to teach major agronomic challenges through the development of a community-type demonstration garden.
Scholarship Awards
Tri-Tech Ag Products’ Eryn Wingate, CCA and Board treasurer, presented the $1000 scholarship awards to four deserving students.
“This is my favorite part of this conference, where we get to acknowledge these promising students and try to help support you in your path to becoming a certified crop advisor,” Wingate said.
Olivia Bruns of Woodland, Calif.; Sawyer Claussen of La Selva Beach, Calif.; Jack Gonzalez of Bakersfield, Calif.; and Osvaldo Acuña of Mesa, Ariz. were this year’s scholarship award recipients. All had excellent track records of awards, leadership and community service as well as internship experience. They were each nominated in the North Valley, South Valley, Coastal and Desert regions, respectively.
Bruns plans to become a CCA and PCA while finishing her bachelor’s degree in plant sciences. Claussen plans to become a CCA next year and finish his bachelor’s degree in plant sciences. Gonzalez plans to finish his bachelor’s degree in plant sciences and accumulate work experience during the next few summers before taking the CCA exam. Acuña plans to become a CCA and PCA at the same time he earns his bachelor’s degree in agricultural technology management and sustainable plant systems.
The recipients of this year’s scholarship and mentor awards play a vital role in the development of CCAs in the western region and will continue to educate growers and prospective CCAs in the future.
On behalf of the JCS Marketing Inc. team and Progressive Crop Consultant magazine, the editor would like to thank all that attended this year’s Crop Consultant Conference in Visalia. The conference was a success with a record amount of continuing education and over 600 attendees that enjoyed the valuable seminars, exhibitors, networking and food.
