EcoFarm 2024 Awards

JUSTIE WINNER

Manual and Olga each grew up in migrant farm worker families in the little town of Woodlake, east of Visalia. They fell in love, married young, and started a family. Manual earned himself a Plant Science degree from Fresno State University while supporting his family picking fruit. He became the Small Farm Advisor for UC Extension in Tulare County where he excelled for over 33 years, inventing SJV blueberry culture to benefit family-scale cultivators. During this time, Olga and Manual remained dedicated to their Woodlake farm worker community, developing a youth leadership program around beautification, funded by a large sweetcorn patch. Four decades strong, with hundreds of young hands and community support, their 14 acre Woodlake Botanical Garden is the pride of Woodlake and Tulare County. The garden showcases near-every crop grown in our Valley, and the farmers and farmworkers who developed them.

JUSTIE WINNER

The Food Chain Workers Alliance (FCWA) is a bi-national coalition of 33 worker-based organizations whose members plant, harvest, process, pack, transport, prepare, serve, and sell food, organizing to improve wages and conditions for all workers along the food chain. FCWA is committed to ending the exploitation of food workers and building a sustainable food system grounded in economic and racial justice. By organizing in our workplaces and communities, we can revolutionize our food system to be one in which work is valued and respected, workers share the wealth of their labor, and workers have the power to shape their working conditions.

SUSTIE WINNER

Brian grew up on a small family farm in Western New York and went to Cornell where he was a member of the Ecological Agriculture Research Collective. After receiving his Ph.D., he was a post-doctorate at Cal-Berkeley. In 1988 Brian went to work for CCOF and was a founder of OMRI in 1996. Brian served as the Director of Sustainability at a SUNY campus and returned briefly to the family farm. He also worked at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture in Switzerland and served as IFOAM North America’s first President.

SUSTIE WINNER

Bob Cannard has been farming sustainably for more than 30 years, providing produce to Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley. Growing up in the commercial nursery business, he has since developed the natural process approach to agriculture that he utilized at Green String Farm in Petaluma. He has long been an important member and teacher of the sustainable food and beyond organic movement in Northern California.

FRESH ROOTS WINNER

Ujamaa Farmer Collective exists to create space for historically marginalized black farmers. They plan to center and serve other existing farmers of color who struggle with land security for their businesses. Each farm business that leases land and participates in their land access program will independently manage their plots, labor, sales, markets, etc. while Ujamaa Farmers Collective functions as a container to enhance their profitability and business viability. This will be achieved through coordinated labor and skills sharing, collective purchasing, shared equipment and infrastructure, as well as food hub aggregation and distribution. Ujamaa Farmers Collective is also a part of the Yolo County Land Access Program.

GOLDEN PLIERS AWARD

The awardee will be announced at the EcoFarm Award Banquet dinner.

As the golden plier changes hands, it signifies not just an honor bestowed upon a single individual but a collective celebration of the resilience, ingenuity, and passion that define the very soul of EcoFarm.