2026 Agriculture Award Winners

Sheila Quince has been a force on Sonoma County’s farm and fair fronts for more than 40 years, channeling her can-do spirit to advocate for agriculture, farm youth and education.

Sheila grew up in Santa Rosa and was a member of the FFA, raising registered Angus cattle to show at the Sonoma County Fair and other regional fairs. She was on the Santa Rosa FFA’s state championship poultry judging team. These experiences nurtured a sense of passion and purpose that would guide Sheila on her agricultural path to SRJC and to graduate from CSU Fresno with a degree in Animal Science.

After college Sheila returned to Santa Rosa. At the urging of J. Wesley Jamison, the legendary agriculture instructor and fair official, Sheila talked to Saralee McClelland Kunde about career opportunities at the fair in 1982. Saralee, then the Premium and Exhibits supervisor, hired Sheila on the spot, launching a career that would span 30 years. Sheila was mentored by Saralee for five years, eventually taking over the position.

As the exhibits coordinator, Sheila seamlessly managed a multitude of details, showcasing the county’s agricultural bounty. Overseeing the annual exhibits programs for the Sonoma County Fair and the Harvest Fair, she processed and showcased more than 25,000 entries, from cows to wine.

Although she officially retired in 2012, Sheila continues to play an instrumental role at the Harvest Fair, coordinating the professional wine competition and supporting the event through her vast knowledge and experience.

Merilark Padgett grew up in Los Angeles and South of the San Francisco Peninsula. With an urban upbringing, she did not grow up planning to study viticulture or to teach agriculture. It wasn’t until Merilark was attending Jr College that she visited a career center and discovered she could study Viticulture at UC Davis. She liked wines, so she thought it would be interesting. It turns out she was right.

Working as a waitress to put herself through school, Merilark received a bachelor of science degree in plant science. After graduating, she worked in vineyard management for Bonny Doon, the famed vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains. After three years, she decided to return to U.C. Davis and attend graduate school, earning a Master of Science degree in horticulture and working as a teaching assistant for her viticulture professors; she followed with a Ph.D. in plant biology, while working as a viticulture consultant.

After graduating, Merilark began taught at Allan Hancock College in Santa Barbara County and Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, before moving to Sonoma County in 2006 to teach viticulture at Santa Rosa Jr College and run the Shone Farm vineyard. Over the past 20 years, Merilark has taught hundreds of students, many of whom are working in successful roles in vineyards and wineries today. She has also forged meaningful relationships with local winegrowers and has been an important educational resource for the college and the local wine and viticulture community. In her free time she volunteers at the local humane society, sings and plays mandolin and is a huge bluegrass fan.

Brooke Parsons spent her childhood on a 15-acre farm in Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley. Her enterprising parents involved their children in their farming businesses, including growing hydroponic tomatoes for local markets and tending the family vineyard. Growing up, Brooke’s favorite activities included Forestville 4-H and FFA programs. After graduating from El Molino High School, Brooke moved to Ithaca, New York, where she attended Cornell University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with minors in both viticulture and human nutrition.

The produce industry was Brooke’s initial focus. She worked in the fruit and vegetable business on both the East and West Coasts before returning home to Sonoma County.

In 2021 Brooke joined Bevill Vineyard Management to fill the newly created role of Vineyard Analyst. She led BVM’s sustainable program, collected and recorded data from the field, and her favorite role of helping to sell the grapes of BVM clients.

Recently Brooke returned to her passion for food business. She now works in Procurement at Traditional Medicinals Tea Company, a Sebastopol-based medicinal tea and wellness company, where she procures herbs domestically and globally for the company’s many products.

Outside of work, Brooke enjoys spending time with her family and friends, participating in numerous outdoor activities, and travelling. She is the current 2026 chairperson of the Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers and Ranchers.

Old Caz Beer was founded in 2018 by Tom Edwards and Bryan Rengel, who met in 2007 while attending  Sonoma State University. The two started Old Caz (named for Old Cazadero Road, the overgrown path that connects Guerneville and Cazadero), with a small budget and a mission to create high quality, exciting products that bring people of all tastes and preferences together. While most of their original equipment was sourced from auctions and the ‘free’ section of Craigslist, creative determination and a ton of hard work allowed the friends to slowly cobble together a fully operational brewery that continues to crank out thousands of barrels each year.

This resourcefulness and hands-on effort has shaped Old Caz into what it is today—a multi-location, award-winning brewery with amazing people and supporters. 

Straight from the beautiful pastures of Northern California, Clover Sonoma has been a pioneer of high-quality, sustainable dairy for more than a century. Based in Petaluma, California, the third-generation family-owned and operated dairy company collaborates closely with independent local family farms to bring clean, delicious, and rBST-free dairy direct to customers.

Clover Sonoma started in 1916 as Petaluma Cooperative Creamery, a small creamery that began bottling and distributing fresh, delicious milk and dairy products branded as “Clover” – soon these products began showing up all over Northern California.

In 1969 the company debuted Clo the Cow as the official mascot for the Clover brand. Over the years, Clo has become a recognizable and much-loved icon to children and adults in Sonoma County and beyond, grazing billboards all over California with the best dairy puns the state has ever seen.

In 1977, Gene Benedetti and five partners acquired the wholesale distribution business from California Cooperative Creamery and Stornetta’s Dairy in Sonoma, CA. As a result, Clover Stornetta Farms, Inc. was born. In the early 1990’s the company tripled production with a fully-automated milk processing facility in Petaluma. Around the same time, the company rejected Monsanto’s newly developed “wonder” drug rBST, a controversial synthetic growth hormone designed to artificially stimulate milk production in dairy cows. Clover pledged to avoid all use of the hormone and went on the adopt rigorous quality standards, leading the way in practicing sustainable agriculture and the humane treatment of cows, still adhered to today.

In 2017, Clover Stornetta Farms officially rebranded as “Clover Sonoma”, embracing the region it calls home. As a Certified B Corporation®, Clover Sonoma prioritizes using business as a power to do good. It proudly boasts being the first dairy in the United States to earn the American Humane Certified designation for its rigorous animal welfare standards. Anchored by its own strict Clover Promise of Excellence, the company remains deeply committed to elevate human, animal, and environmental wellness across all the communities it serves.