Abby Taylor-Silva
California Agricultural Leadership Foundation 80 Garden Court, Suite 270, Monterey 585-1030, agleaders.org
Agriculture is as much about growing people as it is about growing produce. There are countless behind-the-scenes decisions to make and government policies to monitor, from issues like water quality to food safety to immigration. In her decade-plus at the Grower-Shipper Association, Abby Taylor-Silva became a force particularly on issues of water quality, representing the ag industry in complex, years-long bureaucratic deliberations. But like any good leader, she gives credit to the members – “I saw them be very solution-focused,” she says. Same goes for the Covid-19 crisis, when growers led the way on housing for farmworkers. “I do feel like people’s lives were saved,” Taylor-Silva says. Now she’s an executive VP for the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation, helping cultivate a new generation of leaders like her.