By journalist
Peggy Kelly (18)
Susan Branham (1)

Search Site

The new leader of the Ventura County Farm Bureau was a featured speaker at the March Good Morning Santa Paula.

By Peggy Kelly

Santa Paula Times

The new leader of the Ventura County Farm Bureau was a featured speaker at the March Good Morning Santa Paula. Amani Hishmeh of The Medicine Shoppe hosted the Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event held at Logsdon’s at the Airport.

John Krist said it was an easy decision to leave his longtime position as a columnist for the Star newspaper to assume the leadership of the Farm Bureau, and that in a few short days he had learned that Santa Paula has an important place in county agriculture. “I’ve been to Santa Paula for important meetings and gatherings four times in the last five days,” he noted. “Santa Paula is actually the center of the county where all the important stuff” occurs.

“I worked for the Star for almost 25 years,” but Krist said his journey to heading the bureau started “almost 50 years ago,” when his family moved to a ranch in Sonoma County notable for its wine, grapes and prunes. The experience also introduced him to the “less romantic” aspects of farming, “crawling around on hands and knees, picking fruit in the August sun... there’s nothing romantic about that, but I got a good introduction of what it means to work the land.”

His journalism career started in college, and he interned with the Star when the “newspaper considered it news when any member of the community died.” He started writing obituaries, “a humble beginning,” but great training.

Krist said the last decade was the most fulfilling of his career, and his interest in agriculture was revived. He interviewed growers throughout the nation, and “I started realizing something about this industry, this effort, making a living by working the land,” and Krist said he realized that he liked the relationship of the people to the landscape as well as the public policy issues that are linked to agriculture. A series was born, but “It turned out also setting the foundation for my next career.”

Krist said that, with future urbanization, more education and outreach will have to be done on behalf of agriculture. “Talk to people, tell the stories that are compelling” to broaden the knowledge of the county’s agriculture industry.

“The vitality of agriculture is dependent on voters and consumers... every time you spend a dollar at the market you’re making a land use decision.” Krist said, “I want people to understand these things, that their choices have consequences.”