Almond Industry Gatherings hosted by the Almond Board of California (ABC) are set to begin next week. The informal events will offer an opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with the new ABC President and CEO Clarice Turner. ABC Senior Specialist of Industry Communications, Taylor Hillman said the gatherings will be held October 23 through October 26. There will be a total of eight individual gatherings over the course of four days.
“There’s going to be several locations around the almond-producing areas of California, and these events are hosted by the local Board members of ABC,” Hillman explained. “So not only will growers have a chance to ask questions and talk to Clarice, but there will be several Board members at each one of these locations that growers can talk to and share their concerns with and get input and more information about things.”
Board Chair Alexi Rodriguez will be joining Turner at each of the gatherings. October 23 events will take place in Shafter and Lemoore. Four additional Board members will be present in Shafter and five will be attending the Lemoore event. The morning session on October 24 will have seven Board members in Fresno and ten Board members will be present at the Merced gathering in the afternoon. October 25 events will take place in Modesto and Dunnigan. There will be 11 Board members available in Modesto and five Board members in Dunnigan.
“The sessions are only about an hour and a half long. Again, there is no real draft agenda to this. There will be a little bit of a short greeting and presentation, but then this is really meant to have those conversations that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to have,” said Hillman. “It’s a tough time in the industry right now and growers and industry members have a lot of questions. This is a great opportunity to go and get some insights and hopefully at least get some answers to some of those questions.”
Listen to Hillman’s interview below.
Brian German
Ag News Director / AgNet West