GALT, CA (MPG) - California Future Farmers of America (FFA) is proud to announce the 2026 winners of the prestigious State Star Awards. Winners were announced at the 98th Annual California FFA State Leadership Conference on March 21 to 24 in Ontario, California.

The State Star Awards are designed to recognize exceptional FFA members who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in their supervised agricultural experiences (SAEs). SAEs, which have been part of agricultural education since 1917, offer students an individualized application of the career and life skills taught in agricultural education courses beyond scheduled class time.

After an extensive application process, finalists demonstrating outstanding management abilities in production, agribusiness, agricultural placement and agriscience were selected in each of the six regions. These FFA members represent the best of the best, exhibiting excellence in all aspects of their agricultural endeavors, demonstrating strong leadership skills and participating in their local FFA chapter. 

California FFA is proud to announce this year’s winners: 

Star Farmer: The Star Farmer Award recognizes an FFA member who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in an entrepreneurial production agriculture SAE. This award celebrates those who have exhibited excellence in agricultural production, finance and management while maintaining active involvement in FFA. 

This year’s Star Farmer is Madysen Dietz of Merced-El Capitan FFA. Dietz’s project consists of managing a large ewe operation known as Dietz Club Lambs, focusing on breeding, raising, selling and showing high-quality sheep. She manages 90 ewes and cares for an annual lamb crop of about 135 lambs, born between October and February. She oversees all aspects of the operation, including artificial insemination protocols, breeding selection, daily animal care and health management. The lambs are marketed to 4-H and FFA members throughout California and the Midwest, primarily through private treaty sales and occasional online and live auctions.

Star Small Farmer: New to California FFA this year is the Star Small Farmer Award. This award acknowledges FFA members who have fully embraced their SAE projects on a production scale. Finalists were evaluated on the scope of their project and must have earned a monetary maximum of less than $25,000. 

This year’s 2026 Star Small Farmer is Gauge Goehring of the Galt FFA chapter. Goehring owns and operates Double G Show Pigs, where he maintains a herd of three crossbred sows. Since starting his show pig business, Goehring averages farrowing two litters per year and sells those piglets as quality show pigs to 4-H and FFA members in his community. Goehring spends much of his time working on his six-acre farm, where he is responsible for all operational decisions. Some of his duties include feeding pigs, cleaning pens, conducting daily health checks, performing artificial insemination, managing farrowing, following proper biosecurity protocols and marketing his pigs in the community.

Star in Agribusiness: The Star in Agribusiness Award honors a student for exceptional achievement in an entrepreneurial agribusiness SAE. This award is presented to individuals who focus on agricultural sales, services or other entrepreneurial endeavors. Whether through sales, service or innovation, the recipient must demonstrate outstanding business acumen and leadership. 

The 2026 Star in Agribusiness Award goes to Baylor Bloom of the Gustine FFA chapter. Bloom owns and operates Full Bloom Harvesting in Gustine, California, a custom almond and walnut harvesting agribusiness servicing over 700 acres annually around the Gustine area. Baylor began his operation using leased equipment on 400 acres. He has since expanded by purchasing his own OMC shaker through a San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District grant. Bloom provides custom shaking and sweeping services and is responsible for all business decisions, including operations, customer service, field scheduling, maintenance and logistics.

Star in Agricultural Placement: The Star in Agricultural Placement Award celebrates a student who has excelled in an employment-based SAE, including work-based learning opportunities. The awardee should gain real-world experience throughout his or her SAE, all while contributing to the greater agricultural workforce. 

The 2026 recipient of the Star in Agricultural Placement Award is Peyton Heermance of Bret Harte FFA. For the past four years, Heermance has worked for the Angel’s Camp Veterinary Hospital, where he is responsible for many tasks, including rooming patients, taking vitals, assisting with surgical procedures and running in-house animal lab samples.

Heermance also won the 2025 National FFA Proficiency title in the area of Veterinary Science - Entrepreneurship/Placement. 

Star in Agriscience Award: The Star in Agriscience Award recognizes an FFA member whose SAE is focused on advancing agricultural science, research and innovation. This award is designed for students who apply their curiosity to solve problems and answer questions within the agricultural industry. 

The 2026 Star in Agriscience Award goes to Riley Piehl of Santa Rosa FFA. Piehl has completed five agriscience projects over the last four years. Her projects aim to explore a range of management tools to improve labor efficiency and increase production in swine operations. Piehl’s research focused on gestation length and its impact on litter survivability across 24 births from 14 sows. She also evaluated ultrasound-based pregnancy detection with alternative gels, finding 92% accuracy (comparable to commercial options) while enabling detection as early as 18 days to reduce non-productive time. 

Additionally, Piehl’s work with feed companies showed that higher weaning weights lead to faster growth and earlier market readiness.