Nine California Farm Bureau members graduated from the Leadership Farm Bureau program after a 10-month training on governmental policy, personal development and key issues affecting California farmers, ranchers and agricultural businesses. The leadership class included Ben Abatti of Imperial County, a third-generation farmer who grows alfalfa, sugar beets, wheat and forage crops in Holtville; seventh-generation cattle rancher and manager for Driscoll’s Inc. James Moller of Shasta County; and Danielle Vietti of Tulare County, a vice president at AgWest Farm Credit in Tulare.
Natalie Henderson joined the Almond Board of California as director of global communications. She has more than 20 years of experience, including 15 years at E. & J. Gallo Winery.
The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources hired Grace Belt as the Cooperative Extension youth, families and communities adviser for Humboldt and Del Norte counties. She will be designing, delivering and evaluating programs that alleviate local challenges surrounding food security, health and youth and community development.
Driscoll’s CEO Soren Bjorn joined the Western Growers Board of Directors. He will be representing District 10, which includes Watsonville, Gilroy, Hollister and Santa Cruz. Bjorn succeeds Eric Reiter who stepped down due to a realignment of his professional responsibilities and time commitments.
Christopher McGlothlin, California Cotton Ginners and Growers AssociationThe California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association promoted Christopher McGlothlin to assistant vice president of technical services. He was previously in a director role. McGlothlin graduated from Class 52 of the California Ag Leadership Program over the summer, was elected to the AgOne Foundation Board of Directors and was most recently appointed to the USDA Air Quality Task Force.
USDA appointed seven to new terms on the National Honey Board effective Jan. 1. They represent producers, handlers and importers from six states. Read more about the appointees.
USDA selected 36 members to serve on a group to focus on easier access to voluntary environmental credit markets for producers. The Growing Climate Solutions Act Advisory Council will provide advice on methods to quantify and verify reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by reducing barriers to market entry and associated transaction costs. It will submit an initial assessment of the program to Congress and consult USDA on periodic assessments. Senior director of sustainability at Blue Diamond Growers Dan Sonke, among others, were named to the committee.
The Washington Grain Commission appointed Nicole Berg and Art Schultheis as commissioners. Berg worked on her family’s farm near Paterson for nearly three decades and is a past president of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers and the National Association of Wheat Growers. Schultheis is a fifth-generation wheat farmer based near Colton and also owns Shepherd’s Grain, a grain handling and milling company.
USDA announced five new members to the National Organic Standards Board for five-year terms: Kathryn Deschenes of Colorado, Amanda Felder of California, Andrea Hatziyannis of Arizona, Cathleen McCluskey of Wisconsin and Corie Pierce of Vermont. Read more about these members.
Longtime farm, food and environmental policy adviser Ferd Hoefner retired at the end of the year. Prior to launching an independent consulting business in 2021, Hoefner was founding policy director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, where he worked for 33 years. He was involved in policy advocacy for nine farm bills. “I have decided now is the time to take my leave, hoping for many happy returns from SARE, VAPG, WRP, CSP, CCRP, LAMP, FOTO, REAP, WFRP, NOCCSP, OREI, F2S, BFR and SDFR loans, and all the rest of the alphabet soup I played a part in creating and sustaining,” Hoefner said in a farewell note.
Bonipak Produce CEO Joe Leonard will retire in the spring of 2025. He has worked at the company for 17 years as CEO, becoming “an essential character in Bonipak’s 90-year story,” said Mitchell Ardantz, managing member of Bonipak.
The Senate Agriculture Committee is welcoming four new members to the panel in the 119th Congress, including Democrat Adam Schiff of California who will be the committee's first member from the No. 1 state in farm production since the 1980s. Republicans named two new members, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Jim Justice of West Virginia. Read more about the Senate Ag Committee membership for the 119th Congress.
Helaine Berris was hired by the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources as the UC Cooperative Extension water and soil adviser for Sonoma, Marin, Napa and Mendocino counties. Berris will conduct research and extension activities that promote sustainable, innovative and economically viable on-farm water management.
The Imperial Irrigation District swore in two new district directors: Lewis Pacheco for District 4 and JB Hamby for District 2. Hamby, sitting director first elected in 2020, was sworn in for another four-year term. Director Pacheco is a new face on the IID Board, having served two terms on the Calexico City Council, including a time as mayor and service on the Imperial County Planning Commission. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Calexico Unified School District.
Ben Mosley, Farm Credit AdministrationThe Farm Credit Administration hired Ben Mosley as director of the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs. He will serve as FCA’s principal point of contact for Congress, the media and other government agencies and the public. Mosley has worked in public policy for nearly two decades, recently as principal at the bipartisan government affairs and strategic consulting firm, Majority Group, and as vice president of government affairs at the USA Rice Federation.
Brad Weddleman is the new chief economist on the Senate Agriculture Committee majority staff. He spent seven years as chief economist for the agriculture and food lobbying firm Combest, Sell & Associates. Weddleman replaces John Newton who left the committee in September to lead a team of economists and analysts at Terrain.
Susan Noritake was promoted to vice president of sales and marketing at Bako Sweet. She has been with the company since 2023. Noritake previously worked at Zespri International and Duda Farm Fresh Foods.
USDA appointed four to the Mushroom Council: Tony Stachurski of Texas, Laura Matar of Pennsylvania, Chris Alonzo of Pennsylvania and Jack Guan of California. Terms began Jan. 1.
Callie Eideberg is joining the Vogel Group as a principal. She recently was a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee Democratic staff leading the environmental, conservation and climate portfolio, including advocating for then-Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow’s interests on the Inflation Reduction Act and the Growing Climate Solutions Act.
Andrea Northup-Warner started working as a UC Cooperative Extension livestock and natural resources area advisor for Placer, Nevada, Yuba and Sutter counties serving the community she grew up in. Warner has worked for UC Cooperative Extension since 2022 as a staff research associate at the Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center in Yuba County focused on nutrition and health of beef cattle. She succeeds Dan Macon, UCCE livestock and natural resources advisor, who transferred to Calaveras County.
The American Agricultural Law Association named Liz Icenogle executive director. She previously worked at Braden Heidner Lowe & Associates as an association executive alongside AALA’s former leader, Brad Parker, who stepped down recently.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee named Joel Miller, former FCC senior legal adviser and chief of staff, as chief counsel and Jessica Donlon, former deputy staff director of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, as general counsel. Chris Sarley, formerly at Cornerstone Government Affairs, was named senior adviser and director of member services and stakeholder engagemen. Matt VanHyfte, formerly at the Small Business Committee, is director of communications. The staff will work under Staff Director Megan Jackson and Deputy Staff Director Sophie Khanahmadi.
Jeremy Wood began a new position as program specialist at the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service Office of Civil Rights. He has worked for USDA for 23 years, recently as DEIA strategy and policy adviser.
Christy Seyfert, executive director of government affairs for the American Soybean Association, was selected as president and CEO of the Farm Credit Council to succeed Todd Van Hoose, who is retiring. Seyfert will take over in mid-January. 
The International Dairy Foods Association promoted Mariah Minnick to manager of communications. Prior to joining IDFA in 2023, Minnick worked at the National Association of Conservation Districts and Environment Maryland.
Caprock Strategies recently hired Jennifer Warren, former communications director at National Sorghum Producers, as senior director of policy communications and Amira Iwuala and Erin Bacon as policy associates. Iwuala worked at the Alliance to End Hunger and was a Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellow. Bacon is a former Tennessee FFA state officer who recently earned a law degree at Ohio Northern University.
Abbey Fretz was promoted to deputy administrator for legislative and public affairs at in the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to lead a team of 80 legislative and public affairs professionals. She was previously associate deputy administrator.
Duane Acker, former assistant secretary of agriculture for science and education and administrator of the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, died Dec. 13 in his hometown of Atlantic, Iowa. He was 93. He earlier taught at Iowa State University and was president of Kansas State University and first vice chancellor for agriculture and natural resources at the University of Nebraska. Acker was head of food and agriculture for the U.S. Agency for International Development in the Reagan administration. Acker’s services were held in Atlantic on Dec. 18.
Long-time beef industry leader John L. Huston died last month. He was 80. Houston was former president of the National Livestock and Meat Board in Chicago and retired from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association as executive vice president. His services were held Dec. 20.
Richard B. (Dick) Weiss, former chief operating officer of the National Grange and senior vice president for public relations for the National Dairy Board, died Nov. 10 in Washington. He was 84. He ran the Weiss Consultancy before joining the Grange in the early 2000s, retiring in 2007.