24
Almond Facts
JULY | AUGUST 2016
Bringing Agricultural
Issues to Light
Efird has embraced the opportunity to be an advocate for
agriculture in various community forums, both in Fresno
and in the greater agricultural community in California.
Some of the issues that he’s passionate about include
changes to the nitrogen management plan for irrigated
land; the development of the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act; the minimum wage increase; and the
40-hour work week for agriculture.
“I’m actively involved in conversations around these
topics through my involvement in various agricultural
organizations, both local and statewide so that
hopefully I can be part of the solution,” he said. “If
more agriculturalists took an active role and met with
their legislators or regulators and took the time to
educate them on what we do, and how we do it, then
there would be a very different opinion of growers
and the importance of the ag economy to the state
of California.”
He’s an active member of the Fresno County Farm
Bureau and serves on the executive board as treasurer.
He is a delegate and the specialty crops director for
Fresno County Farm Bureau on the California State
Farm Bureau Federation Advisory Council and House of
Delegates. He also represents the energy interests of small
to medium size agricultural operations at the California
Public Utilities Commission where he is an executive
board member of Agricultural Energy Consumers
Association. Furthermore, he supports the local fair, 4-H
and FFA chapters in Fresno. Efird is currently a member
of the California Agricultural Leadership Program, yet
another opportunity to tell his story and promote the good
that agriculturalists bring to the world.
He serves as vice president of the family farming operation,
Double E Farms, which he runs with his father Russel, and
is president of Efird Ag Enterprises, Inc., a commercial
harvesting operation with 2,500 acres under contract, a
15,000-ton-per-year produce transport business, and a
business dedicated to shredding orchard prunings. These
businesses serve growers from Modesto to Bakersfield.
Three generations of the
Efird family enjoy an al
fresco dinner their Fresno
property. Russel (far left)
and Kathy (far right) were
the fourth generation of
the family to farm the land.
