Colleen Cecil

Colleen Cecil has been involved in agriculture for all of her life. The daughter and granddaughter of dairy operators, Colleen grew up in the dairy industry and cultivated a love for the Holstein breed. Throughout 4-H and FFA Colleen raised a small herd of grade and registered Holsteins that she sold to help pay for her first two years of college.

During her 10-years in 4-H Colleen participated in sewing, cooking, arts & crafts and her dairy project. When Colleen promoted to High School, she joined FFA and expanded her animal interests into market lambs and pigs while competing in all the speaking and leadership opportunities available. Colleen participated in project competition, extemporaneous speaking, and dairy products judging, was the chapter secretary and sectional president and served as a California delegate to the National FFA Convention. In 1992, Colleen earned the National FFA Degree, the highest honor awarded to FFA members.

A career in agriculture was in Colleen’s future. After graduating from Modesto Junior College with an associate degree in Dairy Science and from California State University Fresno with a bachelor degree in Agricultural Education, Colleen was quickly hired at the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau as a programs manager. Colleen’s career in agriculture to her to the California Almond Board and hired as an almond buyer at RPAC, LLC in Los Banos.

Colleen met her soon to be husband and relocated to Chico where she accepted the Butte County Farm Bureau Executive Director position, which she has held for 18 years. Colleen advocates locally in the North State, in Sacramento and occasionally in Washington, DC, for the agricultural organizations more than 1000 member families on issues such as land use, labor and water. Colleen manages the day-to day operations of the 107-year-old Butte County Farm Bureau with guidance from the 20-member volunteer Board of Directors.

Colleen, along with her husband Jake, are raising two baseball loving boys, while maintaining their careers in agriculture and farming the walnuts they planted around their home in Glenn County. When Colleen is not at the office, she is driving to and from baseball games and practice, is president of the high school athletic boosters and is a co-key leader for her son’s 4-H club.

Colleen is a member of the CSU Chico Superior Ag Committee and the North Valley Chapter of California Women for Agriculture. In 2011 Colleen was named California Assembly District 3 Woman of the Year by the late Assemblyman Dan Logue and in 2024 was awarded the prestigious Common Threads North Award, recognizing outstanding women in agriculture.