By Doug Beretta, President
How time flies. It’s hard to believe that I’m almost through one year of my 2-year Presidents term.
There are a lot of things on the schedule until the end of the year. Sonoma County Farm Bureau will be hosting our annual meeting of the members on November 16th. It will be a chance to see old friends and meet some new ones as we recap our year and let everyone know what may be on the horizon for 2024. We will have our monthly board meeting earlier that day so there is no conflict with Thanksgiving the week after.
Monthly meetings with the two Regional Water Boards will start the first week in November and last through the rainy season. These are once a month, and it has become a great way to be proactive and capture information for our dairy and horse members to stay in compliance with their water quality permits.
The Sonoma County Farm Bureau office will be closed around Thanksgiving so our great staff can share time with family and friends as I hope most all of us will do also. The first week of December 6 board members and a couple staff members will be heading to California Farm Bureau annual meeting of members. At this conference the State Young Farmers members will also have their annual meeting and discussion meet. I think the last I heard was 10 or 12 of our Sonoma / Marin Young farmers were going to attend and possibly 4 to 6 of them will be competing in the Discussion Meet. It is great to see the next generation getting involved.
This year is an election year for our state offices and that is always a great time to hear how these officers will continue to work hard for us members. We also have some big discussion items on the structure of California Farm Bureau. Looking at the bylaws and policies of an organization is always a good thing to do so we are able to stay in front of issues and work with legislators to better protect agriculture in the state.
December is always busy with staff working on The Great Sonoma Crab and Wine Fest coming up in February. Tickets are on sale now. We will not have a board meeting in December, but we will have our annual Holiday Party attended by board member families and staff and their families.
Somehow in between all this Sonoma County Farm Bureau continues to do our daily job. Meeting with other groups within the county and state, meeting with elected officials at the state and county level, working diligently to grow our membership at the county level, and planning our compliance workshops for 2024.
So again, I want to thank our members and our friends that support this great organization. We all know how important agriculture is to this county, our state, and the world. Without the dedicated employees and board members here at Sonoma County Farm Bureau we couldn’t accomplish the things we do today.
Happy Thanksgiving
