Central Coast Young Farmers & Ranchers

Maya Capurro

Director for Monterey, San Benito and San Luis Obispo Counties

D’Arrigo Bros. of California, Salinas

Maya has been elected to serve on the California Young Farmers & Ranchers state committee, starting in December 2023, as District 8 Director representing Monterey, San Benito, and San Luis Obispo Counties. 

Maya currently is the Chair of Central Coast Young Farmers & Ranchers and is employed by D’Arrigo Bros. of California.

Nicole Knapp

Nicole was born and raised in Healdsburg, CA where she grew up on a vineyard. She graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2009 with a bachelor’s in Business Administration with concentration in Finance and a minor in Economics. With a family history of 5 generations working in California agriculture, Nicole combined her passion for agriculture with her finance degree and became an agricultural lender. In 2020, Nicole became a stay at home mom and currently works part time for American AgCredit. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, being outside and cooking.  Nicole received the Young Farmers & Ranchers Member of the Year Award in 2021.

Sean Seebach

Sean was born and raised in San Jose, California.  After graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a bachelor’s in Agricultural Business in 2014, Sean started a career in the Information Technology department at Tanimura & Antle, where he currently works as a Senior IT Analyst.

Jynel Gularte

Jynel was born and raised as a fourth-generation farmer’s daughter in the Salinas Valley, the “Salad Bowl of World”. As she says, “There truly is no better place for me than within the agricultural community- it’s my duty, my motivation, and my life.”

She completed her goal of graduating Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Agricultural Business. Jynel will always be representing agriculture and trying to gain a better insight of her field and hopes to continue to support the agricultural community that has given her so much by working for and representing them in the future.

Amanda DeDampierre

Amanda is a third generation cattle rancher who resides in the Salinas Valley. She enjoys trail riding, branding, hunting, and traveling in her spare time. Amanda is very involved with several local groups including the Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital Foundation and the California Rodeo Salinas.

Matt Cole

Matt is currently employed at Taylor Farms Retail in Salinas.

Gregory Johnson

Greg is a fourth generation Salinas vegetable grower who graduated from Chico State.  When he isn’t farming, he’s usually out of cell service hunting, fishing or participating in shooting sports.

Vanessa Ramirez

Vanessa was born and raised in Humboldt County. She attended UC Davis and majored in Sustainable Agriculture with an emphasis in Agriculture & Ecology. During college, she was a barn resident at the UC Davis Swine Facility on campus. After graduating, she continued her love for animal agriculture in the Sonoma/Marin area. Vanessa worked on a goat/sheep farmstead, a water buffalo dairy and was actively involved with the Young Farmers & Ranchers chapter there.  She now lives in San Benito County and works in the medical diagnostic industry producing polyclonal antibodies for amino assay drug test kits. She assists with daily herd and health management of a large flock of sheep and goats, as well as the laboratory processing to prepare the antibody for further diagnostic uses.  In her free time she loves adventuring with her dog Harper, doing CrossFit, hunting, and in a non-COVID world- concerts and traveling.

Heidi McHaney

Heidi was born and raised within the Salinas Valley where she grew up being immersed within the agricultural lifestyle through 4-H and FFA.  She graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Science and a minor in Agricultural Business.  Heidi is currently the marketing coordinator at Mann Packing in Gonzales, CA.  In her free time, she loves being outdoors hiking, chasing sunsets, and hunting along with quilting and leathercraft.

Blake Aldrete

Blake was born and raised in Salinas, is the son of former major leaguer Mike Aldrete, and earned all-conference honors for baseball and football at Sonoma State University.  He is currently the Sales Manager for Star Sanitation in Spreckels.

Maya Capurro

Maya was born and raised in the Salinas Valley and fell in love with the fast pace and ever changing environment of the fresh produce industry early on through her family company. She graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with her bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Business in 2019 and has worked with the D’Arrigo California sales team since then. In her free time, Maya enjoys anything outdoors – especially hiking, mountain biking, and golfing!