Sheriff Margaret Mims is among the winners of the Fresno Chamber's 2022 Ag Awards.

The Fresno Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Fresno County Farm Bureau, announces the winners of the 2022 Ag Awards, celebrating the region’s agricultural industry leaders.

The honorees will be recognized at the Ag Awards Celebration on Nov. 3 at PR Farms in Clovis.

“This year’s Ag Awards Celebration is especially significant, as we will be highlighting those that kept a vitally important industry moving forward during a global pandemic. The event’s fitting location and dinner format will also provide a wonderful backdrop for celebrating the people that are essential to Fresno County’s agriculture industry,” stated Scott Miller, president and CEO of the Fresno Chamber of Commerce.

The Moss Adams Agribusiness of the Year Award is presented to Triple Delight Blueberries, a leader in the Valley’s ag industry that has established market outlets for Valley berries with various wholesale buyers as well as corporate kitchens, specialty grocers and various restaurants.

“Triple Delight Blueberries is the absolute perfect business to receive the Moss Adams Agribusiness of the Year Award,” stated Janell Attebery, Partner, Moss Adams. “Moss Adams is proud to partner with the Fresno Chamber of Commerce in awarding Triple Delight Blueberries this year’s award because of their dedication to build their business since 1997, while simultaneously building their industry. They are true examples of pillars of the Central Valley ag community.”

The recipient of the 2022 Agriculturalist of the Year Award is Russel Efird from Double E Farms Inc.

Efird is known amongst his peers to be a mentor and teacher, spending much of his personal time educating members of the community and elected officials about agriculture. Today, Russel and his son, Matthew, farm 1,500 acres of almonds, walnuts, raisins and wine grapes in the Caruthers, Riverdale and Raisin City areas.

Returning this year after a 2021 debut is the AGvocate of the Year Award. This year’s AGvocate of the Year is Christine Torosian-Klistoff, teacher to K-8 students at Fairmont Elementary School in Sanger.

Torosian-Klistoff has led the team within Sanger Unified to develop plans on a 2-acre parcel adjacent to the school to build a state of the art, one of a kind Ag/STEM Educational center, which includes a comprehensive K-8 agriculturally based curriculum and adheres to state-mandated science standards.

“Each of the awards presented represent an integral facet of Fresno’s agricultural community,” Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen said. “With the addition in 2021 of the AGvocate of the Year Awards, the Ag Awards Celebration now recognizes an additional set of people who are key to the success of the local industry and the Central Valley itself. Because of these amazing leaders, Fresno County is the agricultural capital of the nation.”

The Lifetime of Service Award for Significant Contributions to Fresno County Agriculture will go to Sheriff Margaret Mims and Dr. Dennis Nef.

Sheriff Mims began her career in 1983 as the first female police officer in Kerman and continued her career to attain the rank of lieutenant, captain, assistant sheriff, and elected sheriff in 2006. Showing her dedication to the agriculture industry, she was awarded the Common Threads Award for the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation in 2018.

For the last 39 years and counting, Dr. Nef has impacted countless students and graduates along with faculty, staff and administrators at Fresno State as well as agriculturalists throughout the Central Valley and beyond.

As dean, the University Agricultural Laboratory became a focus and priority. This 1,000-acre laboratory is home to research, teaching and learning for the nearly 2,000 students studying agriculture at Fresno State. This focus helped solidify nearly $19 million in new resources from the State of California for farm laboratory improvements and innovations. From 2003 to 2019, he served as vice provost, interim provost and associate dean of undergraduate studies, and most recently appointed to lead the Jordan College.