Anita Oberholster completed her Ph.D. in Wine Sciences at the University of Adelaide, in Australia in 2008. At UC Davis, Anita brings research and developments from the Department of Viticulture and Enology to the wine industry and continually interacts with its vineyard and winery professionals on best practices. She has led research efforts on smoke taint and its mitigation in grapes and wine, on winery sanitation, Red Blotch Virus, the use of new technologies and ‘green’ chemicals in the winery, and the re-use of winery wastewater for the irrigation of vines.

Farm to Pantry rescues food and gets it to those in our community who are hungry. Since 2008, Farm to Pantry has delivered over 5 million servings of nutritious, locally-grown produce that might otherwise have gone to waste. They help struggling small farms, build community gardens, and train volunteers about gleaning, gardening and feeding their community.

Committed to biodiverse ecosystems on their farms in Sonoma County, carrying over to a Michelin-starred plant-based restaurant on the 2022 World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, Kyle and Katina Connaughton grow everything local from vegetables to tea to honey to flowers both edible and decorative and offer much of it on the menu seasonally at their restaurant, Single Thread, in Healdsburg, California.

The small Sonoma county town of Geyserville is on its way to a fully-funded program and site for outdoor classrooms, farming, science and technical programs for students with a farm-to-table kitchen, farmer’s market and community center.

As Deborah says when she describes these programs she has guided into life, “After studying conventional agriculture, embracing 21st-century science, skills and methods, and recognizing the importance of working symbiotically with nature, our students will be ready to lead the next generation of California farmers and ranchers.”

Artist Susan Preston and husband Lou farm a 125-acre parcel in the Dry Creek Valley in what they call a “50-year dalliance” with nature. From organic grapes and wine production, they moved to make the farm biodiverse with olives, stone fruit, apples, vegetables, nuts, grains, pasture, hedgerows, sheep, and chickens. Lou bakes bread, makes kraut and pickles, and Susan is the culinary mother of the farm.

Soil building and the tending of multiple crops and animals side-by-side, restoring native habitats on the creeks, keeping some areas wild instead of cultivated, leads to the balance of nature they seek and makes their organic practices more successful. Their multicultural approach to land stewardship is mirrored in the Prestons’ support for culture and community with on-farm youth programs, you-pick and gleaning days, oral history presentations.

The family is dedicated to biodiverse natural systems and practices for the sustained enjoyment of the land for future generations. Susan’s unique contributions include her soon-to-be published “Forgotten Women,”  a celebratory salute to her life’s formative acquaintances through painting and prose.

Educated at Stanford University in Earth and ocean sciences, mass transit, land use policy and communications, Hopkins lives in Sonoma County and owns Foggy River Farm with her husband Emmett.

As Executive Director of Sonoma County Farm Trails, she worked with dozens of family farmers to help keep small-scale farming viable.

As Board Secretary of Farm to Pantry, she has helped manage an organization that moved over 100 tons of gleaned farm-fresh produce to those in need and shepherded the organization into its current 501(c)3 status.

Most recently, she helped bring together the Russian River Confluence, a coalition of 22 organizations dedicated to working together towards a healthy, resilient and regenerative Russian River watershed.

Bernier Farms is a small, certified organic, family-run farm in Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys of Sonoma County, established in 1976 by Paul and Yael Bernier and known for its diversified farming, sustainable/regenerative ag, farm labor best practices, a farm training/student hosting program, and building farm and food education in the local community. They can be found at local Farmer’s Markets where their produce is much in demand as well as supplying restaurants which focus on local farm products and seasonal cooking.

Carol developed and has directed Forget Me Not Farm since its beginnings in 1992. With more than 35 years’ experience in humane education and animal welfare, she holds a Master’s Degree in Psychology with studies focused on the benefits of animal assisted and horticultural therapy to child victims of abuse and neglect, as well as certification as a Specialist in Animal Assisted Activities and Therapy.

Martin (Marty) Griffin, M.D. helped save the Marin and Sonoma County coasts from development, along with the Russian River, by preventing the building of a coastal four-lane freeway and a coastal aqueduct from the Russian River. He was instrumental in creating the Audubon Canyon Ranch, the gateway to the 71,000-acre Point Reyes National Seashore and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. In 1998 he wrote the awarding-winning book, Saving the Marin-Sonoma Coast, the inspiration for the KRCB documentary film, Rebels With a Cause.

The Martin Griffin Preserve at Audubon Canyon Ranch is within the ancestral territories of the Coast Miwok, Southern Pomo, and Wappo peoples.

Operating for many years as a family-run dairy ranch, the land was protected from development in the early 1960s thanks to the conservation efforts of Marty Griffin, Aileen Pierson, Stan Picher, and other dedicated volunteers.

In 1968, the Preserve was designated a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.