champion. Karen knows that a strong agricultural sector in the state benefits consumers, communities and workers. She treated the State’s 70,000-plus farms and land as her own. Her faith in farmers’ resilience has influenced our long-term planning at Woolf Farming where we have chosen to invest in a future that is far different to the one envisioned by the generation before us. Personally, she’s smart and engaging, warm and accessible to all those around her. She finds it easy to genuinely connect with people—a rare quality for many of her stature. Karen Ross is a great leader and a great friend.” … The building of bridges, the seeking of commonalities between competing interests, the dance between urban and rural has created some real-world programs that Ross counts as her biggest wins. California’s Farm to School program, launched in 2020 by Ross and California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, is one of them. The initiative connects California farmers with local schools, improving student nutrition, expanding agricultural knowledge and know-how, strengthening food systems and creating new (and stable) markets for producers. Since its inception, California has invested more than $100 million in the effort, making it the largest state investment in farm-to-school initiatives in the nation.
In addition, Ross is also known for her leadership in Climate Smart Agriculture, which she said was inspired by the work of USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, who promoted the building blocks at USDA. As Secretary, she convened growers and ranchers and built out Climate Smart Ag programs that aligned with Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) so as to streamline growers’ ability to qualify for incentive dollars, especially in the areas of irrigation, soil health and methane reduction practices. In agtech, Ross engineered the support of the administration toward farmers early on. Under her leadership, California seeded a $30 million investment in the Central Valley AgTech Initiative that helped leverage a subsequent $68 million federal Build Back Better Regional Challenge award, while broader state-supported AgTech Network and Alliance efforts have grown to more than $80 million in investments. This is the kind of bridge that Ross is most proud of building— one that not just closes perceived divides—like between tech and agriculture—but one that extends throughout a number of sectors in the state. For Ross, agtech is part and parcel of workforce development; workforce development is part and parcel with youth leadership and building professional skillset. For those who have seen Ross out in the field, her dynamism when working with students and young people interested in ag is undeniable.
18 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com July – September 2026
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