Winning photos showcase the variety of agricultural lifestyles in California Seasons of life
Story by Caitlin Fillmore
From sleepless nights during the ground-shaking almond harvest to long days cultivating thousands of acres, the winning images from the 42nd annual California Farm Bureau Photo Contest depict the real daily lives of people within our state’s diverse agricultural sector. Two of the photos were captured within days of each other—one showing a dairy cow standing in fresh snow and the other a bundle of just-harvested flowers against a lush, mountainous landscape. The variety of California farming and ranching lifestyles came through in these stunning photographs, submitted by talented Farm Bureau members. Cash prizes were given to the adult winners as well as the Budding Artists under age 14, in a category sponsored by the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom. All winning photos are also featured in a calendar.
First Place Cayden Pricolo Merced County Farm Bureau
Cayden Pricolo, a plant and soil sciences major at Oklahoma State University, has an insider’s perspective on growing specialty crops after an internship at Bowles Farming Co. in Los Banos and riding alongside her agronomist dad. While this knowledge can be helpful in the classroom, she finds her photography can say even more. Pricolo’s winning photo captures the hands-on harvesting technique for watermelons in Los Banos. “Especially in the ag industry, photography is a good way to advocate and show the rest of the world how the ag industry is done,” Pricolo says. “Without these people doing this manual labor, we wouldn’t be able to have successful farming to provide food for the world.” Pricolo used a high shutter speed and natural backlighting to perfectly capture the airborne fruit.
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January/February 2024
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