Chance Carrico was born and raised in the Central Valley.  He was a member of his local 4-H Club for over 10 years which has given him a deep commitment to the agricultural roots of the region.  Chance is currently a senior at California State University, Stanislaus where he is an Economics major.  He is a charter member and past president of the Friends of the Ceres Library. Audie Dahlgren is a native Californian, born and raised in the Central Valley.  She grew up on a poultry ranch and married an almond farmer, which explains her concern for small family farmers.  Audie serves on the Carnegie Foundation Board for the City of Turlock.  JoAnn DiGiovanni was raised on the family farm in Ballico, CA.  She was an elementary school teacher for 34 years in the Bay Area.  Upon retirement, JoAnn and her husband moved back to the valley that she loves.  JoAnn devotes time and energy to the preservation of farmland and as a volunteer in the classroom at Sacred Heart School in Turlock.   JoAnn also serves on the Carnegie Foundation Board for the City of Turlock.  Jeani Ferrari has lived in the Central Valley her entire life.  She and her husband John farm peaches, almonds and walnuts on family farmland in Stanislaus and Merced counties.  Jeani serves on the Yosemite Association board as well as the Carnegie Building Committee for the City of Turlock.  She served on the Turlock Downtown Revitalization Committee and she and her husband are former council members of the Yosemite Fund.  Jeani was a founding member of the Stanislaus Farmland Trust which merged to become Central Valley Farmland Trust.  She is one of three members from Stanislaus County serving on the CVFT board.  Jeani is currently serving on the Stanislaus County Blueprint Advisory Committee. Denny Jackman resides in Modesto and was a founding member of the Farmland Working Group.  He is a local activist in farmland stabilization.  Denny was president of “Growth, Orderly, Affordable, Livable” from 1992-1996.  GOAL is a former Modesto based organization active in local land use and transportation policies.  His interests also include land-use planning, transportation and gardening.  As a Modesto City Council member (2002-05) he supported a housing moratorium which lead to the adjustment/indexing of developer fees to the cost of services for urban development. Denny co-authored Measure H, a citizen’s advisory initiative that called upon the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors to “direct growth” into incorporated cities.  It passed with over a 2-1 margin in the City’s of Modesto (2003) and Newman (2004).  He co-authored the Stamp Out Sprawl (SOS) Measure E on the Stanislaus County February 2008 ballot which also received 2/1 voter approval.  Denny is a member of the Stanislaus County Blueprint Advisory Committee, StanCOG Highway 132 Planning Implementation Project Team and serves on the board of Central Valley Farmland Trust.

Rudy Platzek was a regional planning director for the Association of Bay Area Governments, where he prepared the Bay Area’s first regional plan.  He owned a planning firm and prepared city and county General Plans (GPs) throughout California.  Born in 1930s, Rudy has watched the Central Valley change, with large urban areas along Highway 99 beginning to grow together.  Due to his concern, he and a team aggregated and mapped the proposed urbanization of all CV city and county GPs.  This one map, the first to be done, showed a staggering amount of proposed development.  Mapping to the year 2080 (one lifetime) with an expected 25 million people, showed over 2/3 of the CV farmland lost to urbanization.  Rudy believes that the present planning system will not provide sufficient farmland protection to preserve food security for future generations. Ana Ballesteros Ringsted has lived her entire life in the Central Valley.  She raised her children in Modesto where her husband has worked for Weyerhauser in the packaging division for 37 years.  Ana realizes that her husband’s employment is dependent on the agricultural economy and this is one of the reasons she is interested in preserving Central Valley farmland.  Ana has been active in the Sierra Club, the LeConte Museum in Yosemite Valley and the Tuolumne River Trust.  Ana has worked as bookkeeper/accountant for 28 years. E. Timothy Parker thinks The Central Valley embodies a vast and viable resource for California’s agricultural future as much or even more so now than it has in the past. It must not be overlooked that recent growth impacts during the past decade have raised serious questions as to how we must prioritize the direction of the future. Having had the privilege to once be called a decision maker within a governing body, I want to continue to work vigorously towards an inclusive process whereas the general public concerns are brought forward and addressed. I welcome the opportunity to work with the Farmland Working Group. I hope to add another perspective of advocating participation and inclusiveness in the process. The right to farm remains a focal point, contrasting the urbanism to be considered within city limits. I believe we are on the right path given the insight of the San Joaquin Valley Blueprint regional collaboration. Diligence in this planning process will be the key. I believe the commonality of all of our cities, counties and region regarding patterns of growth is in our last name, California. California, people will come. Jojo Espiritu is a transplanted Bay Area native who arrived in Modesto July 2002. A graduate of Santa Clara University in Business Administration, with expertise in Information Technology, his work experience spans over 20 years with some of the Bay Area’s most notable companies. His foray into farmland preservation and local politics got its start in Jan 2006, when a letter placed at his door steps asked for involvement and input with Riverbank’s General Plan Update and the encroachment of development in what is now a rural area. He has not looked back since and approaches each challenge with gusto. A foot soldier, walking precincts, talking to people and handing out pamphlets on the merits of Measure E, he cherishes the small role he had in its passage. Jojo looks forward to his role with the Farmland Working Group.