COVER STORY KAREN ROSS A Lifetime of Service to California Agriculture
Written by Ann Donahue, Director of Marketing and Communications, with reporting by Emily Gengler, Assistant to the President and CEO
While living in Washington, D.C., Karen Ross’ husband, Barry, received an offer of a dream job in California. Her response: “Great. Do they have agriculture in California?” Years later, Ross is now retiring from her 16-year tenure as the state’s Secretary of Agriculture. Across multiple administrations and the relentless tides of shifting policies and state priorities, she has been the steadfast head of one of the largest industries in one of the world’s most dynamic economies. “Who would have thought that a Nebraska farm girl would rise to lead the nation’s largest agricultural state, achieving national and international recognition along the way?” said Don Cameron, President of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture and Vice President and General Manager at Terranova Ranch. Ross, for her part, credits her resilience on consistency. “Like a bad penny, I keep showing up,” Ross laughed. As she leaves office, Ross takes a moment to reflect on her successes, her impact–and the path forward for agriculture in the state. “We’ve moved the needle,” she said. “We’ve certainly moved it. Have we moved it enough? No.” … With roots and, as Cameron, alluded to, present-day ownership of several hundred acres of western Nebraska farm country, Ross began her California agricultural career as Vice President at Agricultural Council and then as President of California Association of Winegrape Growers. In 2009, she worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as Chief of Staff for Secretary Tom Vilsack. She was appointed Secretary of CDFA by California Governor Jerry Brown in 2011 and was re-appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2019. She said her time at USDA—a “mini-government that touches all aspects of rural America”—impressed upon her a very serious lesson in leadership, discipline and embedded expertise, as well as the importance of continuity of government. Ross observed how nonpartisan senior level executives were constantly training for emergencies because “you want to create relationships and know how to respond when in the midst of a disaster.” That training would prove to be vital. As Secretary in California, she would steer the state’s agricultural industry through multiple droughts, wildfires, floods, public safety issues, unprecedented industry issues and COVID-19. “For the past 16 years, Karen has guided California through invasive pest outbreaks, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in both poultry and dairy, quarantines for Huanglongbing disease and a host of other threats to the state’s farms, all in the
name of keeping our agricultural systems safe and productive,” Cameron said. But the peaks of crises come amid a day-to-day job as Secretary that is challenging in and of itself. She has been affectionately referred to by some in the industry as a “double agent”—someone who has to walk the paths of rural interests in a state largely attuned to the beliefs of urban voters. To put it bluntly: farmers don’t trust Sacramento. And Sacramento seemingly doesn’t trust ag. It’s a dynamic that could be poisonous, but Ross viewed it as a necessary challenge in a state as diverse as California. “I think it feels to growers that people are there in Sacramento with an intention to do harm to ag,” she said. “And it’s not necessarily the intention. Sacramento, I think, still has a tendency to view ag as ‘Big Ag’ and that big is bad in agriculture, even if it’s not in other sectors of the economy. What Sacramento doesn’t
Ross on a CDFA-supported delegation tour in Brazil.
16 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com July – September 2026
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator