The new county agriculture commissioner said she sees the job as a “great opportunity.”
The San Benito County Board of Supervisors announced Karen Overstreet as the new agricultural commissioner and sealer of weights and measures. Overstreet will assume her new role March 30, replacing Commissioner Ron Ross. She comes from Merced County, where she has worked for 20 years, including more than seven years as the assistant agricultural commissioner and sealer.
“It’s just something that I’m excited about because I like to be productive and the challenge of taking on something new and learning new things is just such a great opportunity,” Overstreet said.
The soon-to-be commissioner plans to get to know her new work place better before she sets ways to measure growth or achievement.
“My immediate goal is certainly to learn as much as I can about the community and the farming activities,” Overstreet said.
She’ll bring to the job about 10 years of experience working in Merced County’s weights and measures division, experience as the deputy agricultural commissioner overseeing the pesticide program and years of work asthe assistant agricultural commissioner.
Merced County, much like San Benito County, considers agriculture to be the number one industry, Overstreet said. The two counties also have about 500,000 acres of rangeland, making cattle production an important industry, she said.
Overstreet is the fourth-generation in a line of cattle ranchers and grew up in Los Banos. She currently raises cattle on her 50-acre home ranch and knows first-hand cattlemen’s concerns with the state drought as she sold her herd on the family ranch because of the lack of water.
In taking the position, Overstreet switches from a 30-minute drive to theMerced County officeto one that’s a little less than an hour away. As Overstreet starts work in San Benito County, she expects slightly different cropping patterns and more crops that must be picked by hand.
“I think I’ve always had a philosophy of wanting to help growers and assist through all of the regulatory processes to grow a crop,” she said.
County Board Chairwoman Margie Barrios said in a statement it is a “pleasure” to welcome Overstreet.
“We feel that she will be a wonderful asset to the department and the County of San Benito as a whole,” Barrios said in the statement.
The top ten crops for 2013 were:
Miscellaneous vegetables: $55,903,000
Spinach: $33,089,000
Salad lettuce: $32,840,000
Bell peppers: $29,065,500
Romaine lettuce: $25,014,000
Wine grapes: $21,771,500
Cattle: $17,179,000
Miscellaneous fruits & nuts: $13,690,000
Nursery stock: $12,550,000
Miscellaneous livestock and products: $11,848,000
Source: 2013 crop report for San Benito County
