January 2023
Farm Bureau President Doug Beretta and Executive Director Dayna Ghirardelli submitted a letter on January 17th to the Sonoma County Supervisors urging them to reevaluate and redesign the Agriculture Access Verification Card Program to encourage use which will result in the highest level of safety. Noting successful agriculture access programs in other counties, they argued that an effective program needs to be about agriculture access for any reason, so long as the Sheriff deems it safe. The Board of Supervisors were asked to review the failure of the current Agricultural Access Verification Card Program and direct the Sheriff’s Office to wholly strategize and implement a program that will provide optimal safety while also meeting the needs of the agriculture community.
September 2022
Sonoma County Farm Bureau President, Jennifer Beretta, addressed Board of Supervisors Chair, James Gore in a letter of support regarding the Agriculture Access Verification Card Program for livestock as presented on the August 30th Board Meeting Consent Agenda. The Sonoma County Farm Bureau strongly feels that the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office is most appropriately suited to lead this program in consideration of community member and worker safety. Collaboration with the County Department of Agriculture Weights & Measures, with the assistance of the University of California Cooperative Extension, to ensure the validity of owner/operators and/or direct, full-time employees of qualified commercial agricultural operations is appropriate; moreover, the in-person fire and worker safety training component that is required to obtain a verification card ensure the safety of all.