Pacific Nut Producer Magazine

Tag: UPL

  • Almond Board Announces Exceptional 2025 Almond Leadership Class

    The Almond Board of California is proud to announce the Almond Leadership Program class of 2025, a group of 18 exceptional professionals expected to help lead the industry into the future.

    Bayer Crop Science has sponsored the Almond Leadership Program (ALP) for a number of years and is again the sponsor of this 2025 class of next-generation leaders who were chosen from more than 40 highly qualified applicants. They come from diverse backgrounds across the full range of the industry and include growers and processors, sales representatives, agronomists, pest control advisors, supply chain analysts, ag realtors and more.

    ALP began in 2009 and has graduated 244 industry members. Dozens now serve on ABC workgroups, committees and even the Board of Directors.

    “This 2025 class is outstanding. They are bright, accomplished and they care about our industry,” said Rebecca Bailey, the ABC senior specialist who oversees ALP. “This program helps great people become great leaders and our industry continues to see the huge benefits from 16 years of this program. We are certain these 18 people will continue to be great assets and advocates for the almond industry.”

    Members of this 16th class – while still working at their jobs – will be immersed in every aspect of the industry, including ABC activities in global marketing, production, nutrition research, food safety and more. They’ll sharpen their communication skills and build lasting relationships with industry leaders, ABC staff and each other.

    “The Almond Leadership Program brings together passionate people from all parts of the industry to learn, collaborate and grow,” said Katie Driver, a class member and technical service manager with UPL. “Through this experience, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of the almond industry so that I can better support the growers, who make it all happen.”

    Class members are guided by volunteer mentors – many of them ALP graduates – who will help them develop the skills, knowledge and perspective to improve their industry and their communities.

    “Being a mentor gives me the chance to pass along not just what I’ve learned in the last 25 years as a farmer and a conservation biologist but the new challenges we face every year,” said mentor Christine Gemperle, a grower and member of ABC’s Board of Directors. “I believe this next generation of industry leaders has the ability to take that knowledge and grow an even better future for California almonds.”

    The leadership program will also offer class members thorough looks at the impacts on the industry of social, economic, environmental and regulatory issues. In addition,

    participants will take on a yearlong, self-directed project focused on improving the California almond industry. Some past projects have led to important breakthroughs for the industry.

    Leadership class members kicked off their training with a two-day orientation at the ABC offices in Modesto, which included one-on-one talks with their mentors and hearing from ABC CEO Clarice Turner.

    Once again, class members will raise money for California FFA, pledging to raise more than $25,000 in scholarships for high school students interested in pursuing agriculture in college. Through the years, ALP has raised more than $320,000 for FFA.

    The 2025 Almond Leadership class members are:

    • Arik Bains of Turlock, a pest control advisor with Wilbur Ellis.
    • Cristal Da Silveria of Modesto, a plant and food safety supervisor with Grizzly Nut.
    • Katie Driver of Woodland, a technical service manager with UPL.
    • Raquel Gomez of Atwater, a technical agronomist with Brandt.
    • Zach Harcksen of Ballico, a pest control advisor with Mid Valley Agricultural Services.
    • Evan Koftinow of Los Banos, an operations manager with RPAC.
    • Laine LaGrande of Colusa, a product and system specialist of high value crops with John Deere.
    • Brenden Lusk of Modesto, an ag realtor with Real Broker.
    • Joseph McManus of Shafter, a farm manager with Wilson Ag.
    • Luis Mendoza of Denair, a sales representative with Syngenta.
    • Rajan Nagra of Yuba City, a sales representative with Flory Industries/COE Orchard Equipment.
    • Crystal Nay of Manteca, the managing editor of Modern Ag Media.
    • Ricky Robledo of Colusa, a sales manager with TRECE Inc.
    • Kiki Sandrini of Bakersfield, a regional sales manager with Chandler Automation.
    • Ranvir Tung of Selma, the general manager of Tung Corporation.
    • Elizabeth Vander Weide of Sacramento, a supply chain analyst for Blue Diamond Growers.
    • Jake Wiley of Chico, a sales manager with ProFarm Group.
    • Bobbie Williams of Tracy, a clinical dietitian and almond grower with Sutter Memorial Medical Center in Modesto and WMD Farms.

  • Malcolm Media Launches A Grower’s Story with UPL Support

    “On behalf of Malcolm Media and our partners at UPL, I am very excited to announce the realization of an initiative that has been in the planning stages to serve grape and nut growers for a long time,” shares Dan Malcolm, Publisher of American Vineyard and Pacific Nut Producer Magazines.

    Dan Malcolm

    What started as a school video project inspired Malcolm Media to create a series of videos that will tell the stories of individual growers, not just to share within the industry, but with the real purpose of sharing the stories of farmers with the general public.  ““A Grower’s Story” will serve to introduce our urban neighbors to the good people who grow the food we all consume,” Malcolm reports.

    As told by Emmy Award winning documentarian Joseph Malcolm, “A Grower’s Story” is part of the ongoing commitment at Malcolm Media to serve the agricultural community.  By telling the stories of grape and nut growers, providing farmers a platform from which to tell their own stories, this facilitates a relationship to develop in the hearts and minds of people everywhere with their rural benefactor.  It could certainly be argued that consumers need to know about the food they eat, but more importantly, if they could learn from growers themselves, getting to know more personally the good people who feed the world, we can establish bonds between farmers and consumers that will make us all friends.

    “We want to provide growers with success in farming,” Malcolm explains.  “It is so important in our current climate that there be positive buzz about growers and their endeavors so that they may be free to feed the world without misunderstandings that often occur when there is minimal or incomplete information available to those wanting to know more.  We at Malcolm Media believe it is key to grower success that we invest and help share with our friends who consume the bounty which growers provide, the work and deeds of good farmers.  This is what “A Grower’s Story” is all about.”

    UPL, a leader in global food systems and one of the top five agricultural solutions companies worldwide,  also has vision to help spread the good word of what growers do and have generously invested to assist Malcolm Media in the creation and worldwide distribution of short “A Grower’s Story” documentaries that will tell the stories of the people who grow food.  “We are so grateful that our good friends at UPL are enthusiastically partnering through funding the “A Grower’s Story” initiative for 2022,” Malcolm shared.

    Malcolm Media will publicize this video series utilizing their own in-house social media tools, both print and digital (American Vineyard, Pacific Nut Producer, AmericanVineyardMagazine.com, PacificNutProducer.com, CaliforniaAgNet.com), as well as new tools specifically developed for the purpose of outreach to the general public, outside their traditional ag channels.  GrapeGrower.org and NutGrower.org were launched on April 1st for this exclusive purpose of hosting “A Grower’s Story” three to five minute non-commercial documentaries.  Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, Malcolm Media will use social media and other means to get viewership of many more outside of agriculture to elevate the image of growers and those who work in farming to consumers.  A Grower’s Story has been launched on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn for the purpose of connecting with the community.  The goal is to reach as many as possible with positive messages about grape  and nut growers, the good people they are and the essential work they do.

    Beginning in April, Malcolm Media will begin to distribute “A Grower’s Story” documentaries regularly through the end of 2022 to feature twelve growers this year.  The plan is to continue beyond 2022 with as many stories as there are to be told, reaching as many members of the general public, making new friends for agriculture, for many years to come.

    Joseph Malcolm first took an interest in video journalism as a high school student at Buchanan High School in Clovis, California, where he graduated valedictorian in 2018.  As part of an advanced and award winning team of student journalists, he learned skills behind the camera, and earned the opportunity to serve as an on camera personality telling the stories of members of their campus community.  Under the tutelage of Digital Filmmaking/Videography teacher Dan Pearce, Joseph learned his craft through participation in the production of regular broadcasts, commercials, music videos, and documentary storytelling, for which he won his first Emmy at the ripe young age of 18, titled “A Grower’s Story.”

    Joseph Malcolm

    “With the directing and camera skills of documentarian and photojournalist Joseph Malcolm, we are confident stories will be told that will bring farmers into the hearts of people everywhere,” shares Malcolm.  “We are so excited to serve our grape and nut industry community in this unique and heartfelt way, and have ultimately envisioned an extensive collection of “A Grower’s Story” documentaries representing all of the industries we serve.”

    Connect with and Share A Grower’s Story Today: