WATSONVILLE >> In the wake of the vernal equinox, farmers and community leaders gathered in Heritage Hall at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds to celebrate the abundance of agriculture in the county for the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau and Agri-Culture’s National Agriculture Day Spring Luncheon on Wednesday.

The annual event provided an opportunity for attendees to enjoy a catered lunch consisting of ingredients produced in Santa Cruz County, listen to speeches on the importance of farming and agriculture and honor those who have made a difference in the agricultural world or aspire to. This year, the Al Smith Friend of Agriculture Award went to Zach Friend, the representative of District 2 on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors who will be retiring at the end of his third term this year.

As always, Barbara and Company Catering provided the lunch, which consisted of meat loaf and gravy, mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, salad, bread and a bowl of Driscoll’s berries as well as various forms of cookies, bars and tarts for dessert.

Attendees also had the opportunity to win various raffle prizes donated by local businesses, such as a Black + Decker tool set donated by Ace Hardware of Watsonville, flower bouquets donated by Pajarosa Floral, packs of Martinelli’s cider, produce from Lakeside Organic Gardens, gift certificates to Ferrari’s Florist & Garden and Farm House Restaurant and a catered lunch for 10 as well as an Easter chocolate cake and strawberry shortcake donated by Staff of Life.

Brendan Miele, past president of the Farm Bureau, said the day was one for Americans to recognize how the food on their tables is produced and how farming plays a role in the economy.“We also want young people to consider career opportunities in agriculture,” he said. “A few generations ago, most Americans were directly involved in ag. That is no longer the case today, which is why it’s so important that we join together at the community level to carry this message forward.”

To honor those who potentially represent the future of farming, Agri-Culture presented five scholarships: the JJ Crosetti Jr. Memorial Scholarship to Pajaro Valley High School senior Dulce Ramirez Rivera, the Laura Brown Memorial Scholarship to Watsonville High School senior Bianka Pena, the Frank Prevedelli Memorial Scholarship to Watsonville High senior Jonathan Zarate-Gutierrez, the inaugural Lou & Carol Calcagno Memorial Scholarship to Watsonville High senior Liz Torres and the Jimmie Cox Memorial Scholarship to Watsonville High senior Juliana Lopez-Solis.

Younger students were honored for their artistic skills. Evelyn Brown, a fifth grader at DeLaveaga Elementary School in Santa Cruz, received first place in the poster contest with her drawing of apples, pumpkins, strawberries and a hen engaged in humorous conversation. Her poster will be displayed on the placemats at next year’s luncheon.

Lyle Burchell, a seventh grader at Creekside Private School in Santa Cruz, received first place in the poetry contest with his poem “Grown in Santa Cruz County and the Pajaro Valley.” It read in part “Celery, grapes and peppers, broccoli and kale/They all make me happy and never make me pale/The County and its forests, mountains, fields and towns/They all grow these healthy crops which take away all the frowns.”

The keynote speaker was Sarah Hulick, the Horticulture Department chair at Cabrillo College who previously was a research associate for Cornell University’s Reduced Tillage program, an agronomy specialist at Driscoll’s and a research scientist for Dole at its former Watsonville plant.

“Sarah believes in the ability for higher education to change a person’s directory and a family’s quality of life,” said Miele.

Hulick talked about the different agriculture programs at Cabrillo, including its crop production degree, 10,000-square-foot greenhouse and partnership with California State University Monterey Bay where students take general education classes and study crop production and soil science at Cabrillo for two years for free and then transfer to Monterey Bay to continue their plant and soil science studies.

“This is a beautiful partnership because we’re able to serve our community,” she said. “All the young people in here get to come to Cabrillo for two years, get to go to CSUMB for two years and they never have to leave the community that they want to be a part of, and they get to be connected to jobs and internships locally while they’re in school.”

For the Al Smith Friend of Agriculture Award, Rep. Jimmy Panetta recorded a video from his Washington, D.C., office that praised Friend.

“For more than a decade, Zach has worked very hard for the people of Santa Cruz County in his role as supervisor,” he said. “Along the way, he’s remained a consistent champion for all of those who make a living on the land here all along the Central Coast. He’s been a leader, and more importantly he’s been a partner in our work to get the Pajaro River levee project moving, and he’s been absolutely integral in our efforts to ensure that our community can recover from the devastating winter storms that we all faced.”

After receiving the award and proclamations from the cities of Capitola and Watsonville, the Board of Supervisors, Panetta’s office, California State Legislature and California Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross, Friend delivered brief remarks on how Santa Cruz County was in a defining moment.

“The issues that you are facing here in Santa Cruz County — be it in labor, affordable housing, equity in transportation, environmental issues, water — agriculture’s at the forefront of these issues,” he said. “Every single one of them impacts you more than any other industry in Santa Cruz County, but in many respects, agriculture’s voice isn’t always elevated at a local, state or national level in the way that it should be.”

Friend said these were issues people in the room had the power to solve.

“You have the ability to influence these issues in ways that cross party lines, that break through the noise of the current political structure in ways that no other industry does,” he said. “The things that we do in Santa Cruz County are often mimicked or covered at the state and national levels. This is really a laboratory for amazing things.”