FRESNO, Calif. – Fresno County was recently ranked as the top-producing agricultural county in the U.S. But here’s one thing the ag industry won’t be producing following the November election: an elected representative at the highest seat of county government.
For the first time since the mid 1950s and one of the rare instances in the county’s 170-year history, the Board of Supervisors will not include a farmer, dairy farmer or rancher starting in 2027.
“It’s a historic change and definitely a quantum shift,” said Paul Betancourt, a semi-retired almond farmer who lives outside Kerman. “It'll just be another step farther away [from] the most important industry in our area.”
The current board has two full-time farmers, Brian Pacheco and Buddy Mendes, who are both nearing the end of their respective 12-year tenures. Pacheco is running for California State Assembly in District 27, and Mendes is retiring.
Mendes, whose District 4 spans southern and southwestern Fresno County, is being replaced by Margaret Mims. The former Fresno County Sheriff spent 42 years in law enforcement and was elected to the board during the June primary.
Meanwhile, Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi and Kerman Mayor Maria Pacheco are vying on the November ballot to succeed Brian Pacheco in District 1, which covers northwest Fresno County including portions of west and northwest Fresno. And no, Brian and Maria Pacheco are not related.
Neither Karbassi, nor Maria Pacheco, is a farmer. Karbassi is a small business owner, while Maria Pacheco was a social worker who currently works as a political staffer.
And since current District 5 Supervisor Nathan Magsig is a heavy favorite to win election to the California State Senate, a third vacancy on the board is a strong possibility. But none of the declared candidates likely to replace Magsig in a 2027 special election – including Clovis Mayor Vong Mouanoutoua, Clovis Mayor Pro Tem Diane Pearce or Fresno County Board of Education Trustee Allen Clyde – work in farming, either.
This political changing of the guard represents the end of an era for the local ag industry.
“I think it’s a big loss,” said Mendes, who farms almonds, pistachios, cotton and corn near Lanare. “It's not so much political power. It's to have somebody on the board that really understands what [farmers] do.”
Brian Pacheco, a dairy farmer whose operation outside Kerman includes 1,500 milk cows and the crops to feed them, called the loss of first-hand ag experience among county electeds “very concerning.”
“We always say we want to diversify our economy, we want to diversify our industries, but ag is still the heartbeat,” he added. “It's the engine that makes everything else run.”
Fresno farm production still strong
In 2025, Fresno County regained its standing as the nation’s top agriculture producing county and also became the first to surpass $9 billion in annual sales, according to the county crop report.
Furthermore, ag operations cover nearly half of the county’s 3.8 million acres of land and support 20% of jobs in the Fresno area.
So, rather than indicate any withering of the ag industry, the absence of a farmer on the Fresno County Board of Supervisors speaks more to population trends.
In Fresno County, the last 50 years have brought increased urbanization. In 1980, for example, the combined populations of Fresno and Clovis accounted for less than half of the county population, according to census data.
In 2026, Fresno and Clovis make up roughly 67% of the county population as the growth of those two cities has far outstripped that in smaller cities and unincorporated areas.
Those changing demographics are reflected in the county supervisorial districts. Following the last redistricting in 2021, all five include a portion of the city of Fresno.
Two of the supervisorial districts, District 2 and District 3, are almost entirely within the Fresno city limits. Meanwhile, Clovis voters make up 60% of the electorate in District 5, according to state data.
District 1 has experienced the biggest change. Urban voters residing in northwest, west and south Fresno make up roughly half of the electorate. That leaves District 4 as the only rural district – even though nearly 70% of registered voters live in the cities of Sanger, Selma, Reedley, Kingsburg, Fowler, Parlier, Orange Cove, Huron and Coalinga.
“We’re the No. 1 ag county, but we’re still considered an urban county,” Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen said. “It’s one of the complexities that we deal with.”
Another factor is a willingness to run for public office. Of the 11 candidates who ran in the June primary in Districts 1 and 4, only one – Omar Hernandez – has a farming background. And even he works as a political staffer.
Pacheco ‘disappointed’ by no farmers on ballot
This development irks Brian Pacheco, who said he is vying to become the only full-time farmer in the 80-member California State Assembly.
The fourth-generation dairyman said that over the years several farmers in his district indicated they would run for county supervisor in the event he stepped down or ran for state office.
“I reached out to several of my neighbors and said, ‘Hey, I'm strongly considering [running for State Assembly]. I need you to think about running. We really need an ag person here,’ and not one of them stepped forward,” Brian Pacheco said. “It was completely disappointing to me.”
“Most farmers just want to farm,” he added. “They don’t want the public scrutiny that comes with [political office].”
Ag-related issues don’t often come before the Board of Supervisors for votes, Pacheco and Mendes said. The most frequent involve land-use decisions, pest control and the Williamson Act, a state law that lets private landowners sign voluntary 10-year rolling contracts with local governments to restrict their properties to farming or open space.
But county supervisors play important ag-related roles by serving on the boards of various public agencies, including Groundwater Sustainability Agencies, which were formed under California’s Groundwater Sustainability Management Act (SGMA) to manage and protect groundwater basins. Also the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, which impacts agriculture through incentives for cleaner-burning engines for farm equipment and regulates ag burning.
And when Fresno County experienced severe flooding in the spring of 2023, Mendes’ extensive knowledge of waterways and irrigation canals proved invaluable.
“County supervisors have a role in championing water causes,” Jacobsen said. “That might not mean direct jurisdictional control, but whether it's state or federal water issues, they can play a role in helping shepherd those issues at the local level.”
Will new supervisors be responsive to ag?
Stuart Woolf, whose massive farming operation grows almonds, pistachios, tomatoes, grapes, onions, garlic, wheat, hay and agave outside Huron, knows all about that.
Woolf doesn’t believe not having a farmer on the Fresno County Board of Supervisors will make the ag industry “less relevant.” However, he has concerns over whether supervisors who don’t have roots in agriculture will be as responsive to their needs.
For example, when Woolf wanted to convert some of his non-irrigated land to solar energy production, he relied on Pacheco and Mendes to help cut through the bureaucratic red tape.
“We’ve been really challenged getting things like solar development projects through the whole planning department,” Woolf said. “I've spent a lot of time reaching out to some of our supervisors and talking to them about the timeliness of this stuff, because some of these developers eventually get tired of waiting and they'll go someplace else.”
Both Betancourt, a past president of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, and Jacobsen, the current CEO, say it’s up to the organization to educate less experienced politicians who aren’t steeped in agriculture about the needs of the industry and individual farmers.
“It’s going to be up to people like myself to make sure that we're in constant communication with the board members and be able to communicate the issues that are affecting our industry to those folks,” Jacobsen said.
While Pacheco hopes to be busy with his new responsibilities in Sacramento, Mendes says he’s only a phone call away.
“I told [County Administrative Officer Paul Nerland], ‘If there's a flood year, don't hesitate to call me if you want my help. I'll help you. I have no hobbies,’” Mendes said.
