By Virginie Boone

The students of Sebastopol Future Farmers of America (FFA) have been named state champions of the 2025 California FFA Grapevine Pruning Competition held February 1 of this year at Fresno State University.

The team was coached by Analy High School Agriculture Instructor/FFA Advisor Emily Lokka, with help from her husband Riggs, the vineyard manager at Emeritus Vineyards who once competed in this very same competition.

“I am very excited and proud of my students for having an undefeated season and capping it off with a state champion win,” Lokka said. “Every single student on the team had at least one award to contribute, a great accomplishment for the program.”

The four students who represented Sebastopol FFA at the 2025 FFA State Finals were Lauren Brady (3rd overall in the state), Jesus Martinez Diaz (6th overall), Shellie Hance (8th overall) and Iyla Kjaer (17th overall) and they brought home the State Champion title by winning 1st High Team Overall, 1st High Team in Cordon Table Pruning, 1st High Team in Cordon Wine Pruning, 3rd High Team in the Exam and 3rd High Team in Cane Raisin Pruning.

Lokka said she got the team together last fall with the express goal of winning the state championship. She guides the team all year, teaching them hands-on skills in the El Molino High School vineyard planted by the Russian River Valley Winegrowers and farmed by the Dutton family.

That vineyard is cordon pruned, however, and the competitions are held in the Central Valley, where the vines are often larger in size and machine-pruned. As a result she works with local Sonoma County growers, including her husband Riggs, to have the team additionally gain experience with cane pruning, as they ultimately have to know how to do both.

The contest in fact is broken into four parts: there’s a written exam based on A.J. Winkler’s writings on general viticulture and pruning vinifera grapevines; and three pruning classes, one of wine grapes, another of table grapes and lastly a class of raisin grapes.

Lokka hosted a local chapter contest and gathering in early January with her students and their families, as the majority of the team members had never done the competition before. They

then traveled every weekend to contests in Lodi and elsewhere leading up to February’s championship event.

In all, nine students (five girls, four boys) practiced twice a week, three seniors, two juniors and the rest freshman, with someone winning a championship at every contest, contributing to an undefeated season. The students come from all different backgrounds, with a few having parents who work in vineyards, but the majority with absolutely no background whatsoever in agriculture, let alone viticulture.

“This provides them these opportunities to learn hands-on skills,” Lokka said.

The only bummer was that Lokka could only take one team of four students to the championship, so she brought three seniors and 1 junior, three out of four of whom had competed before. Together they reached the top five in different categories, a gigantic achievement.

Lokka wants to acknowledge the generosity of the Russian River Valley Winegrowers Foundation for sponsoring the team. Their help allowed the students to practice, travel and compete at no cost of their own.

**Pictured from left to right: Riggs Lokka, Bailey Cassady, Lauren Brady, Sebastian Alvarez Figueroa, Jesus Martinez Diaz, Shellie Hance, Iyla Kjaer, John Justus, Ryan Saldana Sweeley, Harlyn Menendez, and Emily Lokka.