The Grower Shipper Association of Central California (GSA) announced that Tom and Terry Bengard are the 2024 recipients of the E.E. “Gene” Harden Lifetime Achievement Award. This prestigious honor is awarded posthumously to the Bengards for their lasting legacy of positively impacting agriculture and local communities.The Bengard family will receive the award in honor of the family patriarchs during a Harden Event Award ceremony on Friday, October 11 in Monterey hosted by GSA.Since 2004, the Harden Lifetime Achievement Award has been the highest honor given to Salinas Valley produce industry icons in recognition of their extraordinary and vital contributions to advancing agriculture and benefiting communities on the Central Coast.Tom Bengard was known as a one-of-a-kind insightful entrepreneur whose vision and influence helped shape the Salinas Valley produce and cattle industries. His engagement in 4-H and Future Farmers of America nurtured a lifelong love of agriculture. Terry (Sconberg) Bengard also developed an early passion for agriculture through her participation in 4-H, where she showed and raised livestock and was a Monterey County Junior Horsemen member.The two met at UC Davis, married in 1959 and enjoyed an over six-decade loving partnership. The Bengards formed Tom Bengard Ranch, Inc. in 1961. They executed their vision of expanding their farming operations across California and into Arizona, Florida and Mexico transitioning into a vertically integrated grower, packer and shipper of premium fresh vegetables.They also launched a cattle operation that grew from a few hundred head to an expansive commercial herd on ranches throughout California and Southern Oregon.Together they supported many community causes, including the California Rodeo Salinas, Salinas Valley Fair Heritage Foundation, UC Davis College of Agriculture, California Women for Agriculture, SPCA and organizations supporting youth in agriculture, including 4-H. The Bengards’ spirit rang throughout their lifelong journey together employing honesty, kindness and trust that formed the foundation of what today stands as a positive imprint onto the Salinas Valley and within the produce industry. The Harden Award’s namesake was a produce industry pioneer and philanthropist who, together with other emerging grower-shippers a century ago, held a shared vision responsible for shaping what today is more commonly known as the “Salad Bowl of the World.Tom and Terry Bengard join nearly two dozen fellow industry and community icons, including recent awardees Garland and Miles Reiter (2023), Luis and Lucille Scattini (2023), and Dennis Caprara (2022)
