Mark your calendars for Thursday, May 12, as the Farm Bureau’s of Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced, San Joaquin and Sacramento counties come together to present Ag Unite. Ag Unite is a gathering of farmers, ranchers, landowners and agricultural businesses that want to see an end to our fragmented agriculture community.

The purpose of Ag Unite is to come together and support Farm Bureau’s political action fund, our legal action fund, and increase Farm Bureau membership.  A previous Ag Unite event was held in Butte County in 2013 and saw great success, according to Caitie Campodonico, Stanislaus County Farm Bureau (SCFB) programs director and Ag Unite organizer.

“Who better to speak on behalf of agriculture than Farm Bureau?” Campodonico said. “Ag Unite hopes to unify our industry to give us a stronger political voice.”

The event will be an opportunity to hear from California Farm Bureau Federation President and Modesto farmer Paul Wenger as he sheds light on the burdens of overregulation and what we as agriculturists can do about it.

“Ag Unite will be a great opportunity to hear from Paul and others about how regulation has affected their livelihoods,” said SCFB President, Joey Gonsalves. “Ag is a minority and we all sit and complain about it but don’t really do anything about it. This is an opportunity to come together and take action, that’s what it’s all about.”

Ag Unite will be held at the Modesto Junior College ACE Pavilion (Brink & Shoemake Ave, Modesto) at 11:30 a.m. until approximately 2 p.m. and lunch will be served. There is no cost to attend Ag Unite and ALL farmers, ranchers, landowners and ag business owners are invited, regardless of where you live or what you produce.

Sponsorships are $1,000 each and there is no limit to how many are available. For more information or to make a sponsorship pledge, please call the SCFB office at (209) 522-7278 or email Caitie Campodonico at caitiec@stanfarmbureau.org

We wish to thank the individuals and businesses that have already pledged $1,000 each to support Ag Unite:

American AgCredit
BelKorp Ag
Blue Diamond
E.R. Vine & Sons
F&M Bank
Heinrich Farms
Hollandia Nursery/David & Gina Van Klaveren
Lyon’s Investments
Mapes Ranch/Lyon’s Land Management
Melvin T. Wheeler & Sons, LP
Mid Valley Ag
Modesto Irrigation District
Orestimba Nursery
San Joaquin-Stanislaus Cattlemen’s Association
Smith Chevrolet
Stanislaus Farm Supply
Turlock Irrigation District
Waterford Irrigation
Yosemite Farm Credit