PCFMA Welcomes Board Member Juli Figone

The Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association (PCFMA) recently welcomed Juli Figone from BR Beef in Gilroy to its Board of Directors. Elected by the farmers who sell at PCFMA's markets, Juli will serve a three-year term extending through April 2028. 

The “BR” in the name of BR Beef stands for Bianchi Ranches, managed by Robert and Chris Bianchi and Erica and Steven Pirnik in Gilroy. Their 5,000-acre ranch provides natural grasses, spring water, fresh air and sunshine for the cows that the farm raises from birth to harvest. Juli manages the farmers market sales for BR Beef which participates in PCFMA’s farmers’ markets in Alameda and the Evergreen neighborhood of San Jose.   

BR Beef was featured in PCFMA’s Beyond the Market program of video farm tours program, available on PCFMA’s website.  The video offers viewers a glimpse into the ranch and some of the animals raised by Juli and the BR Beef team. 

Juli’s election to the Board of Directors upholds a long-standing practice of farmer leadership since PCFMA’s founding in 1988. Each year, the farmers selling at PCFMA markets elect one of their peers to serve a three-year term. Similarly, once every three years, PCFMA’s other sellers – bakeries, artisan food producers, hot food purveyors, etc. – elect one non–farmer participant for a three-year term. These elections ensure that the farmers and other small businesses directly involved in PCFMA farmers markets have a voice in important decisions. 

The remaining Board members are appointed by the serving Board members allowing PCFMA to recruit individuals with specific skills and experience, such as those with legal or accounting experience, valuable for a nonprofit organization. 

The PCFMA Board also re-elected two long-serving members for additional terms extending through 2028: Mike Billigmeier of B&B Ranch, a founding Board member who sells at PCFMA’s Pleasanton Farmers Market, and Shelly McMahon of Shelly’s Eggs, a Board member since 2007, whose farm sell in PCFMA’s Martinez and Pleasanton Farmers’ Markets.