Heather Montgomery has been a member of the Climate Smart Agriculture Team since January 2023 and serves the Sutter-Yuba counties. She was the first Community Education Specialist in her region and focused on growing clientele and community contacts in the area, with the goal of continually engaging and supporting farmers and ranchers in various areas of climate smart agriculture. One way Heather supports local agriculture is through serving as a technical assistance provider (TAP) for several incentive grants offered through the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
To further engage the community, Heather started a biannual Fall/Spring TAP Networking event, an opportunity for local TAPs from various organizations to network and learn more about various stakeholders and other organizations in the area. Thirteen individuals attended her first event and twenty attended this year’s spring event. Relationship building is an important component to successfully engaging with the agriculture industry and Heather excels at it. Heather also joined the steering committee to help plan the 2025 Small Farm Conference, a virtual conference hosted by the California Alliance with Family Farmers. She saw a need for an in-person gathering to engage local farmers, ranchers, TAPs, and more in the Sutter-Yuba area, and organized the first in-person gathering hosted at California State University, Chico. This event provided an opportunity for relationship building across six counties. Heather continues to support local agriculture by identifying areas of need and coming up with an innovative solution to further her influence in the regions she serves.
Curious about what else Heather is doing in her counties? Visit the following links below:
- Climate Smart Agriculture Website: Sutter-Yuba Areas
- 93Q Radio featuring Heather Montgomery
- Climate Smart Agriculture: Sutter-Yuba Facebook
