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The 2025 Crop Consultant Conference, hosted on September 24 and 25 in Visalia, Calif. in a collaborative effort by JCS Marketing Inc. and Western Region Certified Crop Advisers (WRCCA), once again offered high numbers of continuing education units and provided the opportunity for consultants, industry suppliers, researchers and others to network and learn.
In addition to CCAs, PCAs and grower-applicators receiving much-needed continuing education credits during the Conference’s established dual-education track, WRCCA also presented its sixth-annual Crop Consultant of the Year award, Allan Romander Scholarship and Mentor Awards, and a new award: the Distinguished Service Award.
Stephen Vasquez, executive director at Administrative Committee for Pistachios and WRCCA chair, and Eryn Wingate, owner of Wingate Consulting and WRCCA secretary and treasurer, presented this year’s 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 include 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 Eric Pooler, vice president of viticulture, winery relations and bulk wine sales for Nuveen Natural Capital. Pooler’s 22-year-plus career has focused on winegrape production, spanning time with many of the most distinguished wineries and farming operations in the U.S. wine industry. Additionally, for 13 years, he has developed and orchestrated four annual continuing education events offering CCA and CPAg credits through the Napa County Farm Bureau and the Napa County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office.
“Thank you to the CCA board and the selection committee, all of my colleagues and mentors, and my brothers and sisters in the world of agriculture,” Pooler said. “This award means a tremendous amount to me.”
Nathan Miller, who nominated Pooler for the award, had this to say: “Eric is thoughtful, hardworking and forward thinking. He places heavy emphasis on agronomic strategies, which minimize the impacts on the environment while strengthening the bottom line for his business. It’s exactly what a CCA is supposed to do, and he’s doing it at a very high level.”
Mentor Awards
The mentor honorarium awards $500 to an agriculture educator who is training and mentoring the next group of consultants, growers and industry professionals. Daila Menendez, adjunct professor of plant science at Los Angeles Pierce College, was this year’s mentor honorarium recipient.
Bansal plans to use the funds to for two projects providing hands-on learning for students:
1. Creating a regenerative system for nurturing a small-scale vineyard through annual and perennial cover crops and companion planting, soil building, IPM and water conservation practices.
2. Establishing a flower farm for cutting and pollinator habitat to be used for research on cover crops, beneficial insects, pollinators, flower crop choice, weed suppression, water use and organic practices.
“Eric is thoughtful, hardworking and forward thinking. He places heavy emphasis on agronomic strategies, which minimize the impacts on the environment while strengthening the bottom line for his business.”
– Nathan Miller on 2026 CCA of the Year Eric Pooler
Scholarship Awards
The $1000 scholarship awards went to four deserving students.
Carlos G. Vega Lara, Reed Scott, Josett Clark and Roberto Lopez were this year’s scholarship award recipients. All had excellent track records of awards, leadership and community service as well as internship experience.
“After graduating from Reedley College this May, I plan to transfer to Fresno State to continue my studies and earn a bachelor’s degree in plant science with a minor in agronomy,” Vega Lara said. “While attending Fresno State, I aim to gain two years of hands-on experience as an agricultural advisor and prepare for the California Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) exam.”
“I believe obtaining a CCA credential would be a significant accomplishment for my career path,” Clark said. “Not only does it go hand in hand with working in the desert southwest, but because I’m heavily involved in outreach and research initiatives, I feel it’d be a great fit for me to be able to assist growers toward making sustainable choices for their farming operations, as well as help solve some of the most significant challenges facing the ag field today.”
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.
Distinguished Service Award
Presented for the first time this year, the Distinguished Service Award honors the career of a retiring CCA in the western region. The inaugural winner was Fred Strauss, one of the first to get certified upon the 1992 founding of the CCA program.
Strauss was 1991 Member of the Year for the California Association of Pest Control Advisers; a WRCCA board member, including past board chair and marketing committee chair; and showed continued engagement in the industry after retirement, including volunteering with the International Certified Crop Adviser Board.
“Fred has been in ag for a very long time,” Vasquez said. “He’s mentored a lot of people. But the most important thing is that he’s been a friend to everyone, and he’s really done Western Region CCA a wonderful service and has really put it on a path for future success.”
“I want to thank the board,” Strauss said. “This is a great honor. And to be the first, that’s a big deal.”
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 over 600 attendees who enjoyed the valuable seminars, exhibitors, networking and food.
