Volunteer organization connects farmers, ranchers and community leaders across the state with backing from Farm Credit institutions servicing the Golden State.
In 1975, several women involved in agriculture gathered in the Coachella Valley to discuss how they could educate policymakers and consumers about the needs of California agriculture.
Since those beginnings 50 years ago, California Women for Agriculture (CWA) has grown to become the most active all-volunteer agricultural organization in the state. Its 1,500 members represent farmers, ranchers, bankers, lawyers, marketing professionals and food producers from Butte County to the Mexican border.
Sharron Zoller, a Lake County walnut grower who served as CWA’s president from 2022-24, said the group exists to advocate for, promote, and educate the public about California agriculture.
“Our name was carefully chosen,” Zoller said. “They chose for instead of in to be sure everyone who believed in the mission would join.”
To mark the milestone anniversary, CWA recently held a Golden Weekend Celebration in La Quinta, near Coachella, where the founding women met to launch the organization. While they celebrated, Cherry Ishimatsu, the group’s first state president, was also celebrating her 100th birthday.
“We’re proud to salute California Women for Agriculture for its great work in promoting our state’s farmers and ranchers during its first 50 years,” said Keith Hesterberg, President and CEO of Fresno Madera Farm Credit. “These women have spent countless hours over the years educating consumers and decision-makers alike about the importance of agriculture in the Golden State, and we look forward to supporting their work in the years to come.”
Heather Lemos, Relationship Manager, with American AgCredit added CWA also helps keep the state’s ag community connected.
“As a statewide organization, CWA helps tie together the broad and diverse sectors of California’s farming community,” Lemos said. “Their members learn about different challenges farmers and ranchers have in different parts of the state, and their networking helps spread information about best practices in advocacy as well.”
She added that many Farm Credit employees are CWA members, including CoBank’s Farm Credit Banking Group Vice President Sara Reid, who served as CWA’s president for two years.
Five Farm Credit organizations serving California – AgWest Farm Credit, American AgCredit, CoBank, Colusa-Glenn Farm Credit and Fresno Madera Farm Credit – have supported California Women for Agriculture for some 20 years. They are all part of the nationwide Farm Credit System – the largest provider of credit to U.S. agriculture.
Many of the group’s 19 chapters have “showcase” events, such as Zoller’s Lake County chapter’s AgVenture program (now in its 14th year) as a proven educational program.
“We have a class of 12 area leaders each year, including county supervisors, city council members, business leaders and government department heads, who get a deep dive into how our four main crops – pears, walnuts, grapes, and olives – are grown and processed,” she said.
During the trips, the participants learn about each crop’s regulatory issues, market trends, and labor issues, and they get to see a farm in action.
“The first class focuses on pears and is scheduled during the harvest,” she said. “We visit an orchard to see the pears harvested, then go to the pear shed where the crop is delivered, processed and boxed, and put into cold storage ready for market.
“A field trip for each crop provides the participants with first-hand views that are paired with in-depth information – the science behind growing crops, U.S. and global economics, labor dynamics, regulatory burdens, and the political issues – that each farmer must contend with.
“Many of the participants say that although they’ve lived in Lake County all their lives, they had no idea about everything that goes into a local farming operation.”
Advocacy in a state that Zoller delicately noted is “not always user-friendly” to agriculture is a crucial focus. CWA encourages members to form relationships with their local decision-makers, along with state and federal legislators.
The state organization hosts an annual two-day event in Sacramento to discuss legislation and hold conversations with lawmakers. On the federal level, CWA partners with American Agri Women, a coalition of other states’ advocacy groups, to travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with members of Congress and officials with government agencies.
“We have been able to educate decision makers, most of whom are several generations away from a farm, to frame some of their proposed legislation into a real-life understanding of the consequences for the ag community and blunt the impacts,” she noted.
Zoller predicted that in the years to come, CWA will continue to “help shape decisions that secure our food supply, strengthen rural communities, and build our economies. We know—and we have shown—that when women speak together, the world listens differently.”
She added that Leona Lewis, one of the founding members and a former state president, recalled at the 50th anniversary celebration that she and two other women who met to organize the group went into the fields to pick lettuce to show their support for growers, who were facing headwinds at the time.
“Lewis said the person directing them said they were doing it wrong – that harvesting has to be done ‘butts up.’ So, they repositioned themselves and continued picking until they were told, no, you have to put the lettuce butts up in the carton. The story was greeted with much laughter and applause,” Zoller said.
“Those women won’t fade into the background. They are rooted in the rich earth of our identity.”
###
About Farm Credit:
AgWest Farm Credit, American AgCredit, Colusa-Glenn Farm Credit, CoBank and Fresno Madera Farm Credit are cooperatively owned lending institutions providing agriculture and rural communities with a dependable source of credit. For more than 100 years, the Farm Credit System has specialized in financing farmers, ranchers, farmer-owned cooperatives, rural utilities, and agribusinesses. Farm Credit offers a broad range of loan products and financial services, including long-term real estate loans, operating lines of credit, equipment and facility loans, cash management, and appraisal and leasing services…everything a “growing” business needs. For more information, visit www.farmcreditalliance.com
About California Women for Agriculture:
California Women for Agriculture speaks clearly about the future of agriculture, lifting one another up and with our collective voice is impossible to ignore. We honor our founders by doing what they did with grace and strength: showing up, speaking clearly, and working together until the future we imagine becomes the future we live – anchored in science, technology and stewardship guided by the next generation of leaders. To encourage and grow these new leaders, CWA has established the California Women for Agriculture Foundation. Through scholarships and leadership programs, the Foundation will equip young women with the education, experiences and networks they need to shape California agriculture for generations. To support the effort or to learn more visit cawomen4ag.com or contact Sharron Zoller at 916- 441-2910.