KEVIN ANDREW ON LEADERSHIP, LABOR AND THE FUTURE OF TABLE GRAPES By Taylor Lauson, Communications Manager
From left: Stuart Woolf (Woolf Farming and Processing, President and CEO), Kevin Andrew (Vista Vineyards, CEO) and Dave Puglia (Western Growers, President and CEO) at Western Growers 99th Annual Meeting
Kevin Andrew’s earliest childhood memories are rooted in agriculture: early mornings and weekends spent tilling fields, setting irrigation pipes, driving tractors and learning firsthand the demanding work required to keep a farm running. Andrew wasn’t alone out there. The third oldest of eight children, he was busy working alongside his family in the field, something that may ring true for other children of ag families. “My father farmed on just about every Indian reservation across Arizona,” said Andrew. “All of us, every weekend, were out working on the ranch. It was the same thing with our quote-unquote summer break.” While many of these so-called ag kids often choose to explore other career opportunities before coming back
to the farm, Andrew had truly fallen in love with the work and decided to pursue that passion in college. His father had experience with row crops like cotton and cantaloupes, and Andrew intended to follow this path of expertise. However, his father urged him to reconsider, telling him, “I believe the future is in permanent crops.” Heeding his father’s advice, he graduated from Fresno State University with a degree in viticulture. He opted to remain in the region after graduation, landing his first job out of college at Farrior Farms. In 1984, he accepted an offer with Superior Farming Company, which later became Sun World International (and where he would serve as Chief Operating Officer until 2011). A few
40 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com July – September 2026
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