Central Coast

March 2010 SLO County CWA

The San Luis Obispo County chapter is off to a fantastic 2010. We have been hard at work since returning from the Annual Convention and have quickly transitioned from a new and developing chapter to an active and established chapter! Below are some highlights of our recent agriculture advocacy, education, and outreach efforts.

Action and Advocacy. SLO County CWA has taken an active role in current and local agriculture issues. Member JoAnn Wall testified at the Board of Supervisors meeting regarding the proposed revisions to the Grading Ordinance and we have written and submitted a position letter to Board of Supervisors. In addition, SLO County CWA quickly responded to an issue affecting the management of the downtown SLO Thursday night Farmers' Market. And, in an effort to further educate ourselves about Farmers' Market in general, we invited, as our first guest speaker, the Market Administrator of the SLO County Farmers Market Association to address our membership at our February general membership meeting.

Agriculture Education. Thanks to the hard work of our finance directors, Kathy Loftus and Katie Cooley, and their successfully executed TV raffle, we have the ability to award scholarships in 2010. While the scholarship program details are being finalized, we will award scholarships to graduating high school students furthering their education at a 2-year, 4-year, or vocational college and continuing college students. In addition, we will award 4-H and FFA project scholarships. Lastly, SLO County CWA has committed to sponsor the Great AgVenture, an all day agriculture event for local 4th grade students.

Outreach and Collaboration. One of our Chapter's goals is to develop partnerships and strong working relationships with other county agriculture organizations. Accordingly, SLO County CWA's executive board attended the SLO County Cattlemen's Spring Tour Meeting and we were thrilled to have State CWA President, Celeste Settrini, join us for this fun and informative event. Krista Kodl and Kathy Loftus attended the Farm Bureau Women's evening huddle with Supervisor Adam Hill, where they engaged in candid and direct discussions relating to Smart Growth, the Williamson Act, and Grading Ordinance. In addition, President Krista Kodl will be the guest speaker at the Farm Bureau Women's March luncheon.

Upcoming Events. In April, in lieu of our regular monthly meeting, we will be hosting an agriculture and agri-tourism related tour. While the details have not been finalized, we intend to tour three to four small and unique North County farms and ranches with lunch at a new garden style restaurant.

We look forward to the Statewide Meeting at Harris Ranch.

Respectfully, SLO County CWA

Santa Maria Chapter - March Report

The Santa Maria chapter is “March”ing on ! We are geared up for our a busy spring ! National Ag week is March 15th to 20th. The first day of spring is March 19th and our chapter will be serving lunch at the Santa Barbara County Food Bank in Santa Maria. The luncheon is to thank a farmer for their contributions to the food bank. During National Ag week, we will also be distributing the Farmology books to restaurants and elected officials.

In March we send out applications for school garden grants and scholarships. The selection process will take place in April for both the grants and scholarships.
On March 24th, the Santa Maria chapter and COLAB are hosting a candidate forum for the 33rd State Assembly position. There are 4 candidates that will be participating in the forum. The event is open to the public. It begins at 5:00 pm at the Fair Park. The cost is $10 and we will offer finger foods prior to the forum. The forum will go from 5:30 to 7:30 and will be moderated by Andy Caldwell. We feel that it is important for the ag community to hear how the candidates will support the industry. We need “ag friendly” people in office !

Andy Caldwell is the executive director of COLAB (Coalition of labor, agriculture and business) for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. Andy has a daily radio show in which our chapter pays to run the CWA ad at least 3 times a week. Andy is a huge advocate for agriculture and we appreciate his assistance on getting special messages out into the community.

April will be another active month for the Santa Maria group. We have the Filmore School in Lompoc Ag Day where the members will teach the students about agriculture. April is strawberry month ! We have a field tour planned with one of our growers so the members can learn about strawberry production and use their knowledge during the Santa Maria Strawberry Festival on April 23rd, 24th, and 25th. We have a berry tasting event for the attendees of the festival. Also during the same weekend, we help sell raffle tickets for the annual COLAB dinner.

Greetings! Our annual retreat was held on January 23rd at First National Bank. After a very productive session, we have an approved set of Chapter By-Laws and a Balanced Budget to work with during 2010. We also have a great set of goals that we’d like to achieve during the course of the year. Membership will be our key focus this year, in both recruiting new members and continuing to offer the best information, education and networking for our current members. Each of us should be able to take home something different and valuable from our CWA experiences.

Planning is already underway for one of our biggest chapter fundraisers of the year. Our third annual Progressive Dinner committee is gearing up for another great event which will be held on Saturday June 5th. We will have two buses traveling the Salinas Valley Wine Corridor with stops for wine tasting and a four course meal along the way. Tickets will be going on sale March 1st.

Our Scholarship Committee has been working diligently to get our 2010 applications updated and ready for distribution. As in year’s past, we will once again be offering scholarships for both Women Pursuing Degrees in Agriculture and a Farm Workers Scholarship. Last year we were very fortunate to have awarded over $9,500 to 9 recipients and we are looking for a great response again this year!

Last, but not least, our Chapter will be having our Annual Membership Mixer on March 31st at Grower’s Pub in Salinas. The event will run from 5:30-8:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend!

Colby Rubbo
Salinas Valley Chapter President

Santa Maria Chapter Update
December

November and December were going to be months where the chapter slowed down but Santa Maria kept up their usual pace. In December we had our installation and year end dinner. We opted to have a dinner in place of the general meeting. It was a very nice evening that included good food and friendships. In lieu of a gift exchange, the group brought newborn children items. The items, in addition to donations from Lion Heart were put together in gift bags and donated to the Good Samaritan Shelter home for new mothers. There were over 20 bags generously filled with booster chairs, wipee warmers, clothes, diapers and an arrangement of goodies. This is the second year that the chapter made the donation. Our members are very generous!
2010 will be getting off to a good start with the SWM. There are 14 members attending from the Santa Maria Chapter !!! In January we begin with a board retreat to put finishing touches on the plans for the year….and it is going to be another full year of events ! The Santa Maria chapter has at least 1 extra event other than the general meetings each month. We wish everyone a “Happy New Year” for 2010 !

Salinas Valley Chapter

We just had our Installation Dinner in Salinas on December 15th where we bid farewell to a successful 2009. We will be having our Annual Retreat on January 23rd, followed by our first chapter meeting of the year on January 28th.

Planning is already underway for one of our biggest chapter fundraisers of the year. Our third annual Progressive Dinner committee is gearing up for another great event which will be held on Saturday June 5th. We will have two buses traveling the Salinas Valley Wine Corridor with stops for wine tasting and a four course meal along the way.

I hope everyone had a great Holiday Season and I wish you all a Prosperous 2010!

Colby Willoughby
Salinas Valley Chapter President

Santa Maria Chapter Report

The Santa Maria Chapter has been very busy with events for the past month and have an active schedule coming up in April. In March, the Santa Maria Fairpark recognized two our of members for their continued commitment of time and efforts for the Annual Strawberry Festival. Nancy Machut and Roberta Alderete are very instrumental in the yearly event and their efforts were much commended with plaques.

Ag Week ended with a luncheon at the Santa Barbara County Foodbank in Santa Maria. Kerry Aller (an employee of the Foodbank), our CWA 2nd VP organizes the yearly event to “Thank A Farmer” for their donations throughout the year. Our CWA members pitch in to help out for the luncheon. The speaker for the event was AG Kawamura.

This year we budgeted $3000 for school garden projects in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties. The selection was made in March. There were 6 schools that applied and each were granted money to promote their gardens.
April is Ag Day at one of the local schools in Lompoc. A group of our CWA members go to the school and make farm charms with the kids and help distribute fresh produce.

Applications were mailed to schools in the area in March for scholarships for students continuing in the field of agriculture. The selection will be made at the end of April. This year we will be awarding $7500.

The Strawberry festival in Santa Maria is the fourth weekend in April. The festival is from Friday to Sunday. Our CWA group is instrumental in doing a berry taste test and cooking demonstrations. All attendees to the festival are invited to taste 4 different varieties and score their favorite. The berries are donated from local growers. The local 4-H groups help throughout the weekend.

One other important event in April is the annual COLAB dinner. COLAB is an organization in Santa Barbara County led by Andy Caldwell. The purpose of COLAB is to bring labor, agriculture and business together in unison. They have an annual dinner in which the CWA members sell raffle tickets and help out during the auction. The dinner is attended by over 1000 people.

One last event that our CWA members participated in was the “Tea” and “Plunger” rally held on April 15. We had a great turn out.

We are in the planning stages for the SWM in July that will be held in Santa Maria and for our Casino Night that will be September 19th.