Why the Next Generation of Farmers Gives Us Hope — California's FFA State Treasurer Daren Deftereos' Perspective

Rooted in Farming from the Start

Hey! My name is Daren Deftereos and this year I am serving as the 2025-2026 California FFA State Treasurer. For those that are unaware of what the FFA is, the California FFA Organization is a chartered state of the National FFA Organization and has a membership of approximately 108,000 high school students that are enrolled in an agriculture class. The focus of the curriculum is to support the agriculture industry and the development of leadership among youth. Through the implementation of the Three Circle Model, an educational framework that consists of a combination of the Classroom, Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE), and the FFA, the organization has grown to become one of the largest youth organization in the United States.

Before I was born, both of my parents were involved in Agriculture Education at the high school level. Shortly after I was born, my mother left Ag teaching, and became a full time farmer, working the ground that her father, my grandfather, leased to her. As the farm continued to grow in size, with an array of diverse crop production that included corn and wheat silage, alfalfa hay, pistachios, and cotton (back when there was a chance for it to be profitable), more help was needed and I found myself working in our fields as I grew older. I was the best employee Deftereos Farms had (and the only employee).

The Reality of Feeding a Growing World

As a product of being raised on a farm, I have a firsthand perspective of what it truly takes to turn a seed into a meal. The consensus I have found is this: the demanding task of feeding eight billion hungry mouths requires extensive and exhausting work. And this same industry must carry the monumental task of trying to balance productivity with sustainability, while adapting to an ever-changing demand of the consumer.

From my perspective as an FFA member and working on a family farm there are two areas that require major revision and attention. The first area is the management of our water resources in California. The second area deals with the public perception and the ideology of a social license holding more weight than scientific data.

The Water Crisis: Mismanagement and Missed Opportunities

More and more pumping restrictions are being enforced upon California farmers. And my family is currently in limbo of how much water will be cut in our area. Typically, my family always knew what to plant by the fall, so ground prep could begin before winter hits. But going into next year, we have no idea what to plant as we simply do not know how much water we will have available.

Surface water allocation from snow melt has changed dramatically since the water delivery system was installed in our area in the 1930’s. Instead of an entire season of surface water to grow a crop, farmers in many areas may see only a few weeks, if any at all. If one was to look at historical snowpack levels, this change isn’t because any dramatic weather pattern shift over a period of time, but because of water being poorly managed and diverted elsewhere. A once brilliant system of water delivery to farmers and families, has now become unreliable resulting in a feeling of helplessness.

As availability of surface water has diminished, farmers have been forced to turn to pumping water out of the ground in order to satisfy the needs of their crops. This has resulted in a reduction of the underground aquifer in some areas. No farmer actually wants to pump ground water when they have the opportunity to use surface water. The question that we should be asking not as agriculturalists or consumers, but as a unified society that wishes the betterment of all California citizens, is how can we provide more surface water for our farmers so that they can continue to feed mouths without depleting aquifers?

Let’s look at the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the hub of California’s water supply. Since October of 2023, 81.7% of water channelized to flow through the Delta has not been recaptured and diverted into storage for food production and families. This uncaptured water becomes unusable seawater. Most of this is due to environmental efforts to maintain the endangered Delta Smelt. However, Kristi Diener, a San Joaquin Valley farmer and the founder of the California Water for Food and People Movement, wrote about the effectiveness of our Water Board’s efforts. “Only four smelt have been collected since July 2018, after thousands of Department of Fish and Wildlife trawling surveys.” The facts state that whatever is happening now to protect the Delta Smelt is not working and wasting water.

A study by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) states that a minimum flow of 3,300 cfs (cubic feet per second) is believed sufficient to prevent saltwater intrusion. Data from the same institute (PPIC) routinely shows flows that far exceed the minimum to aid in protecting the Delta Smelt. If we were to cap the flow at 20% more than the minimum required (to provide a safety net), we would provide a flow of 4,000 cfs. With that, the amount of usable water that would be provided to families and farmers could increase by over 200%. Every single second.

On top of all of that, the San Luis Reservoir is at a little over 40% of its full capacity according to the California Department of Water Resources. The excess fresh water that is flowing into the ocean to become irrecoverable can be saved by filling the dams we already have. But that’s not happening. By implementing an improved water distribution and allocation system, we can not only irrigate farmland but also replenish aquifers that were originally depleted due to over pumping that came from a lack of available surface water.

Public Perception vs. Professional Knowledge

It is without question and should be unanimously accepted that everybody has a right to know where their food comes from and how their food is grown. Transparency of the production is as crucial as the production itself. However, decisions on how the food is produced should be trusted in the hands of the professionals who have a deep understanding of how production agriculture works.

In high school, I was a part of Hanford High School’s Division 1 football team. Football was everything for me and I put my entire heart into the game. In a competitive game my junior season, I was brought to the ground the wrong way and completely tore my Anterior Cruciate Ligament, or my ACL, slightly tore my meniscus, and was inflicted with bone damage to my right knee.

When I went in for my ACL surgery, it was important for me to know what procedure was taking place and how the operation was going to run. The work of this surgeon determined whether or not I would play my senior season and the success of this surgery was the most important focus of my life. But despite its importance and cruciality, it would be completely irrational for me to explain to the surgeon on how to conduct my operation. While it was my leg that was being operated on, I had an unmitigated lack of knowledge and experience as to how to perform an ACL surgery. So I trusted my surgeon as he transparently told me the operation he was about to perform. Because of his knowledge and skill I was blessed with returning in time to finish out my senior season of football.

While everybody is entitled to have their own opinion and give advice where they see fit, it is simply illogical to let the opinions of the unqualified enforce rules and regulations as to how the qualified should do their job. In the words of President Eisenhower, “Farming is mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” I believe that there is a reason why teachers teach instead of students, and why doctors advise patients instead of patients advising doctors. Should the student create the teacher's curriculum? Should the patient’s diagnosis outweigh the medical professionals?

The obvious answer is NO, yet the professionals in the agriculture industry are being told how they should produce their products by people that have no qualifications to do so. In the same way that there was a successful outcome through the qualified trust in the professional who had spent his life studying to become a surgeon, it is only rational that the general public should trust the wheat farmer in the agriculture industry who has spent their life studying how to effectively produce wheat.

The conclusive analysis of my perspective on the public perception is that the consumer may suggest and brainstorm more efficient ways to produce food, but should only be granted the power to enact and enforce those ways if the individual is qualified to do so. A qualification that derives from a knowledge on agriculture production. In turn, it is the responsibility of the farmer to provide complete transparency as to how they produce their food and give an effort to be as considerate as possible towards the sustainable innovations of the qualified, and only the qualified, individuals.

Resilience in the Face of Uncertainty

While I believe in the urgency behind the major revisions and attentiveness to the questionable management of our water resources and the public perception’s ideology of social licenses over scientific data, my perspective also has a significant belief in the future of agriculture.

As someone who has spent a substantial portion of their short life working on a farm, it is easy to question if the incomparable work of the agriculturalist is even worth the effort after they leave their day-long pursuit to attend a water board meeting and hear that their job will become more difficult than it already was, or read of a new regulation that will be enforced to their already overregulated career.

Although the questioning is reasonable, it is not justifiable to put an end to our responsibility of feeding the world. For if we fail at our job, it is the end of all jobs. We do what we do so that others can do what they do.

The resilience and relentless hope of the California farmer is what drives the State of California itself. The unexplainable gift of the California farmer is their ability to constantly adapt under extreme conditions.

As a representative of young agriculturalists and a State Officer for an FFA Organization in one of the most agriculturally dominant states in the nation, I can confidently attest that there is a strong and resilient group of us who shares the values of today’s farmers of this state, a promising belief in the future of agriculture. In the weeds of uncertainty, hope is still sprouting everywhere.