WATSONVILLE — Georgeann Cowles Eiskamp has seen her father and son receive the Farmer of the Year award over the years, but the fifth generation farmer had never gotten the honor herself.
That was until Thursday evening, when the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau bridged the generation gap and honored Eiskamp as its 2017 Farmer of the Year.
The announcement was made during the Farm Bureau’s 100th anniversary celebration at Watsonville Slough Farm.
“This is unbelievable,” Eiskamp told the crowd of more than 150. “I am very, very honored.”
Born and raised on her family’s Watsonville farm, Eiskamp graduated from Watsonville High School in 1957, and received a bachelor’s degree at Purdue University in 1971.
After working for an insurance company in Seattle, Wash. for 15 years, she returned to Watsonville in 1999 to help her father George Cowles on the ranch. But after her father, who received the Farmer of the Year award in 1990, died in 2006, Eiskamp took over farming operations of Cowles Berry Farm.
Among her many activities, Eiskamp is the founding co-chair of the Down to Earth Women Luncheon Committee, which has raised about $500,000 for agricultural education programs in 10 years. She served on the board of directors for the Agricultural History Project, as well as president of Watsonville Rotary Club from 2009-2010.
She has also led fundraising efforts to help support the victims of Haiti’s earthquake, buy vans for Renaissance High School and to provide medical care and clean water to a village in Peru.
John E. Eiskamp, Georgeann’s son, received Farmer of the Year in 2014.
Thursday’s meeting marked the 100th anniversary of the Farm Bureau, and President Thomas Broz spoke on the accomplishments of the organization over the past century.
The Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau was one of the very first Farm Bureaus, established in 1917. Local Farm Advisor Henry Washburn and ranch owner Theodore Hoover (brother to U.S. President Herbert Hoover) were two pivotal players in forming the bureau.
Throughout its history, SCCFB has remained a grassroots organization, working within the community to support those involved in the many branches of agriculture.
Broz said the advances farming has made over the past 100 years, and the ability of the Farm Bureau to adapt, has been “incredible.”
“It continues to accelerate at an unprecedented level,” he said.
Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture who was the featured speaker, commended the Farm Bureau for its “resilience.”
“One hundred years as an organization in a state that’s constantly changing — that’s perseverance,” she said. “That’s what farmers do.”
