BY CRAIG W. ANDERSON

Three San Joaquin County Farm Bureau members were among the 11 graduates of the 2011 Leadership Farm Bureau class who had completed the year of intensive training.

The three SJFB members are: Bruce Fry, SJFB president and Lodi farmer; Sara Hansen, a crop insurance claims adjuster who also provides field support; and Mary Junqueiro, director of programs at Western Plant Health Association.

CFBF President Paul Wenger said, “The members of this class represent a variety of occupations vital to agriculture in our state … and they can now take what they’ve learned back to their respective organizations and become the next leaders in agriculture.”

The graduates gained 250 hours of specialized training focused on leadership skills, and current affairs in addition to insight into how Farm Bureau operates and its priorities in working to protect family farms and ranchers.

A portion of the training consisted of traveling to Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to learn about key issues, meet with legislators, members of Congress and government agency leaders. The group also journeyed to Illinois and Missouri to discuss common issues with family farmers and ag leaders.


Bruce Fry

“Leadership Farm Bureau was a great experience and timing-wise it was perfect,” said Fry. “The program worked hand-in-hand with my being voted in as San Joaquin Farm Bureau president.”

Fry received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural business from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and is the fifth generation to continue his family business as the vice president of operations for Mohr-Fry Ranches, which farms 12 varieties of winegrapes, two varieties of cherries and more than 20 varieties of heirloom dry beans.

He was a member of the board, vice president, and president of the Lodi District Grape Growers Association; for a decade he was on the board of the California Association of Winegrape Growers as its treasurer and vice chairman; and from 2004 to 2009 we was vice president and then president of the Winegrape Growers of America.

Currently, Fry is a member of the California Winegrape Inspection Advisory Board and Lodi’s Community Separator/Greenbelt Task Force.

His work with these committees, boards and groups has been enhanced by Leadership Farm Bureau’s “courses that have helped me deal with a variety of people in all situations. I learned a great deal about public speaking, met a great many different people, and learned the importance and value of networking,” he said.

Fry said an important element of ag today is “being able to network and contact various people for various reasons. We learned how Farm Bureau, local, state and federal governments work and we visited Illinois and Missouri to learn how other farmers operate.”

Agriculture is a “completely different industry in the Midwest with only a few basic crops such as soybeans, corn, alfalfa and pigs,” Fry said. “Seeing how they farm provided a good perspective about the differences in crops, farming methods, and irrigation.”

The trip to Washington, D.C., to elicit support for California agriculture from senators and congressmen was likewise eye-opening for the class, according to Fry. “Until you get there and talk with them directly, your understanding of how government operates is incomplete.”


Sara Hansen

“The program was a great experience,” said Sara Hansen. “I made great friendships and I think all of us are now better advocates for ag, farmers and ranchers.”

She received her bachelor’s degree in agriculture studies from California State University, Stanislaus and she now works for San Joaquin Valley Crop Management as field support and NAU Country Insurance as a crop insurance claims adjuster.

She worked with good programs in the 1990s as an officer for 4-H and was quite active as chapter and sectional FFA officer and received her state and American FFA degrees.

“Leadership Farm Bureau has helped me with networking and how to deal with farmers, and knowing their issues,” Hansen said, adding, “Both of my jobs are 100 percent behind me.”

Hansen said the most challenging aspect of the training was “getting out of my shell. I’m basically very shy and the public speaking course in particular has helped me.” In fact, Hansen spoke at the graduation ceremony.

She was a bit surprised by the relationships she built with others during the run of the class. “I’ve become friends with everyone in the tight knit group that was our class. We had this ‘We’re all in this together’ approach.”

Something of a surprise was the Washington, D.C., trip because, she said, “Before participating in Leadership Farm Bureau, I never thought I’d be talking to politicians in D.C., or Sacramento, for that matter. It was an overwhelming experience to see firsthand the issues affecting Congress and our state legislators.”

The Leadership Farm Bureau experience has made her “want to do more with Ag in the Classroom” and she was also “very impressed with the San Francisco Ag in the Classroom program.”

Hansen encourages Farm Bureau members not to be afraid to sign up and “go for it! You can’t go wrong; it’s a very good program.”


Mary Junqueiro

Junqueiro received her bachelor’s degree in agricultural studies from California State University, Stanislaus and was executive assistant for SJFB in 2009. She joined the Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers & Ranchers and is on the board of directors for the SJFB Foundation for Agricultural Education.

“Leadership Farm Bureau is a really great program and all interested people should apply,” Junqueiro said, noting that a candidate must receive a recommendation from the SJFB president in order to apply.

The program encourages participants to become more involved with Farm Bureau and discover its role at the local, state and national levels, she said, along with providing a “good opportunity to network and it opens a lot of doors with classmates.”

She said the members of her class represented a wide array of people, lifestyles and professions and that she “learned much from them.”

Like most who complete the program, Junqueiro said she intends to continue her Farm Bureau activities and to take full advantage of the professional growth the course instilled in her.

Junqueiro said the Midwest trip provided an “interesting look at the challenges farmers face there. Ironically, the winery we visited sold mostly California wines.”

The D.C. trip was “very educational, a great trip and it showed us ways to get our message across to legislators at every level,” she said. “And due to our three trips to Sacramento we were able to see and experience how the legislative process works.”