Humboldt and Sonoma County Farmers Honored for Distinguished Service
A dairy farmer with more than 70 years of service with the Humboldt County Farm Bureau and a winegrape grower and dairy farmer with more than 50 years of service with the Sonoma County Farm Bureau are recipients of the California Farm Bureau’s Distinguished Service Award for their lifelong contributions to California agriculture.
The awards for Gene Senestraro of Humboldt County and Domenic Carinalli of Sonoma County were announced during the 104th California Farm Bureau Annual Meeting in Monterey.
In addition, Wayne Zipser, former executive director of the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, was honored with the California Farm Bureau’s 2022 Helen Roberti Lifetime Service Award.
Senestraro has been a member of the Humboldt County Farm Bureau since 1951. Born to Italian immigrants, he bought his first dairy cows at 18 and later opened a dairy in Fortuna before moving the operation to Eureka.
Senestraro played a leading role in shaping the county Farm Bureau. He also served on multiple regional and state boards, including the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, the California Milk Advisory Board, the Humboldt County Planning Commission and the 4-H Leaders Council.
Carinalli’s Italian-born father, Domenic Carinalli Sr. came to the U.S. in the early 1920s and began making wine in Sonoma County in 1921. Carinalli Jr. took over and greatly expanded the operation, producing chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot grigio and establishing a private wine label in 1996.
Carinalli Jr., who also worked as a dairy farmer, has been a director of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau since 1968, the longest-serving director in the organization’s history. He served as president in 1987-88. In 2020, he was inducted into the Farm Bureau’s Hall of Fame, honored for making a lasting difference in Sonoma County agriculture, including working to preserve 500,000 acres of farmland in the county.
Zipser, a walnut and almond grower, recently retired as executive director of the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau. He worked with Farm Bureau for 35 years, including as president and as a board member. He has also served as general manager and vice chair for the East San Joaquin Water Quality Coalition. The California Farm Bureau works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of nearly 29,000 members statewide and as part of a nationwide network of 5.3 million Farm Bureau members.
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