Ben Slaughter, ARA

Statement of Qualifications • Email: bens@c-x.com

Mr. Ben Slaughter, ARA, has been specifically educated in the appraisal of agricultural properties, completing numerous courses in this area of study. Mr. Slaughter has been awarded the professional designation of Accredited Rural Appraiser (ARA), the highest rank and the only title conferred on rural appraisers by the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers (ASFMRA). He is certified by the state of California as a Certified General Real Estate Appraiser, Certificate Number AG033069; and by the state of Oregon, Certificate Number C000880. Mr. Slaughter holds a degree in Agricultural Business from California State University, Fresno, and has developed the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) processes currently employed by Correia-Xavier, Inc., including the development of shapefiles of American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) for all of the major wine growing regions in California and Oregon.

Mr. Slaughter publicly presented on the subject of GIS technology, speaking to the implications for market analysis and information gathering at the 2002 Fall Meeting of the ASFMRA; in March 2004 and April 2005 at the spring meeting of the Real Estate Appraisers Microcomputer Users Group (REAMUG) in San Diego, CA; in February 2005 at a meeting of the International Right of Way Association; and most recently at a seminar on Vineyard Valuations for the Northern California Chapter of the Appraisal Institute, in Napa, CA in May 2006. He has also published an article on this topic in the online appraisal journal, Appraisal Buzz, entitled “The High-Tech 21st Century Appraiser.” He is currently collaborating with major universities in studies of spatial and economic characteristics of wine grape vineyards that will be published in the near future. Mr. Slaughter has also developed and instructed a one day course entitled “Efficient Use of MSWord & Excel in Evaluating Property Economics.”