California Ag TODAY: Farm Bureau Announces Winners of Open Discussion Meet

Effective discussion of how Farm Bureau can engage farmers and ranchers to promote agriculture earned a Kings County woman first place in the annual Young Farmers and Ranchers Open Discussion Meet, held during the California Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting in Monterey.

Beth Sequeira of Hanford said during the finals of the annual competition that Farm Bureau has taken on the role of communicating an accurate message about agriculture. The Discussion Meet encourages cooperation and communication and is designed to prepare young members for county Farm Bureau and committee meetings.

As winner of the contest, Sequeira will represent California at the American Farm Bureau Federation Open Discussion Meet, to be held next month at the AFBF Annual Meeting in San Antonio. Sequeira works for Keenan Farms, a pistachio grower-handler in Kings County, handling sales and marketing duties.

“I’m really excited. We had a great group of panelists on the final four and had a really good discussion,” she said.

Mary Junqueiro of San Joaquin County was first runner-up in the contest. The other finalists were Molly Fagundes of Merced County and Andrea Krout of Sonoma County.

As the Open Discussion Meet winner, Sequeira earned a 2014 Sportsman 570-efi all-terrain vehicle—valued at $6,800—courtesy of Polaris Industries, and $4,000 courtesy of Discussion Meet sponsors the California Association of Pest Control Advisers, State Compensation Insurance Fund, Southern California Edison, Dick and Cathie Bradley, Farm Credit West, CoBank and American AgCredit. As first runner-up, Junqueiro received $1,000. The other two finalists each earned $500.

The separate Collegiate Discussion Meet was won by Jake Carlson of California State University, Fresno. Carlson, from Elk Grove, is an animal science, pre-veterinary, major at Fresno State.

First runner-up in the collegiate contest was Audra Roland, a Fresno State student from Tollhouse. The other finalists were Jodi Raley, a Fresno State student from Clovis, and Leah Gibson, a Chico State student from Paso Robles. Fresno State also won the team competition in the Collegiate Discussion Meet.

Carlson earned a $1,250 prize as winner of the collegiate contest. Roland earned $750 and the other finalists each earned $500. Prizes in the Collegiate Discussion Meet were sponsored by Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers.

The California Farm Bureau Federation works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of nearly 78,000 members statewide and as part of a nationwide network of more than 6.2 million Farm Bureau members.