LAKEPORT, Calif. – Members of the Lake County Chapter of California Women for Agriculture (LCCWA) participated in a statewide California Women for Agriculture meeting on May 6 in Sacramento to learn about pending agriculture legislation.  

On May 7, these members, along with dozens of CWA members from chapters throughout the state, spent the day in the Capitol communicating with California state legislators about pending ag-related legislation.  

Terry Dereniuk, LCCWA AgVenture coordinator; Annette Hopkins, LCCWA president; and Bonnie Sears, LCCWA Facebook coordinator, met with seven legislators, including Assemblymember Mariko Yamada and Sen. Noreen Evans.

“California Women for Agriculture is one of the largest all-volunteer agricultural organizations in the state,” said Hopkins. “We’d like legislators and administration officials to consider CWA as an informational resource about the food and fiber produced by California growers. Our Lake County chapter also provided a personal invitation to our legislators to come and visit Lake County farms.”

“We believe it is very important to educate our newly-elected legislators about California’s No. 1 industry,” said Dereniuk. “We feel that we can do this by not only talking with our legislators, but by actually showing them what we do by bringing them to the orchards, fields, ranches and vineyards where we work.”

The May 7 CWA legislative visit was organized months in advance by members of CWA including Terry Dereniuk.

LCCWA actively educates their members and the public about matters concerning agriculture at both the County and State levels.

LCCWA awards scholarships to students pursuing agricultural-related education and provides mini-grants to teachers in local schools who are educating their students about agriculture and food.

In addition, LCCWA sponsors AgVenture, an educational program for community leaders who wish to learn more about agriculture in Lake County.

To learn more about the Lake County Chapter of California Women for Agriculture, visit their Web site at www.lakecountycwa.org .