October 7, 2022
It was a tremendous privilege for our class 35 to experience all the expertise of Napa Valley’s Agriculture leaders on Ag Day on October 7. Our all day experience began in the vineyard as the sun came up, with 3 of Napa finest vineyardists giving a wonderful hands-on tutorial. We learned everything from soil science to vineyard management and how Napa’s vineyard stewards help promote healthy ecosystems. Then we met at Meadowood for a series of speakers and dialogues from every segment of the Napa wine growing industry.  

We learned the history of the unique Napa Ag Preserve, the industry and governmental organizations that manage/produce our vineyards and wine, and how the industry is working with farm-workers to promote health and professional skills.

Ted Hall enlighten us with his captivating talk on the economics of Organic Farming and the impact to our eco system. Our creativity was tested during the day with an Ag Ad-Hoc project. Our classes projects solved issues from a span of urban development to bugs in our soil infusing nitrogen.  

Farmstead served a delicious farm-to-table lunch. We closed the day with a tour of fire mitigation efforts near Pritchard Hill and at Colgin winery.  After driving through the fire trails and learning how Howell Mountain residents and wineries have pulled together to plan and prepare for fires we took a deep breath as we learned that an emergency radio channel was being established for the wineries in that region.   Overall, it was amazing to see 18 agricultural and wine industry professionals devote their time to our education and understanding!
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Class 35 Agriculture Day Gratitude Team members:

Bruce Barge - Principal, Bruce Barge Coaching and Consulting
Janette Books - Founder and Fiduciary, D4 Fiduciary and Business Advisory Services
Jen Cantrell - Staff Service Analyst II, County of Napa Health & Human Services Agency
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About this post:
The purpose of the Attitude of Gratitude program is (1) to thank our extraordinary Day Coordinators who provide the information and experiences that make each of the program days exceptional, and (2) to reflect on what has changed for the class members as a result of their participation in Leadership Napa Valley. For each of the class program days, a gratitude team is assigned to make sure all the individuals responsible for coordinating, facilitating, and presenting the day are thanked.