Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
BEDFORD – Radius Indiana’s Kristal Painter has been chosen to participate in the Indiana Agricultural Leadership Program, a two-year program that develops individuals to become leaders in the state’s agriculture and rural communities.
Painter is chief operating officer of Discover Southern Indiana, Radius Indiana’s regional tourism brand, and program manager of Choose Southern Indiana, a population attraction program.
Administered by AgrIInstitute, the ALP combines seminars and travel opportunities. ALP was started to create a cadre of self-assured, highly motivated professionals to serve Indiana agriculture and rural communities in public affairs at the local, state, national and international levels.
A total of 28 class members will take part, starting with the first seminar in July.
Painter said she is looking forward to expanding her network in the ag industry and learning about opportunities to help agriculture interests and agritourism businesses in the eight counties of Radius Indiana.
“Agritourism businesses make up a lot of our tourism landscape. The wineries, breweries, U-pick farms, Wilstem Wildlife Park, farmers markets and Red Hill Fiber Mill are all agritourism businesses. We also have living history sites like Spring Mill State Park’s Pioneer Village and the John Hay Center in Salem. Lost River Market in Paoli supports local growers and offers CSA boxes,” Painter said. “It’s a wide variety of businesses.”
Most agribusinesses are small, and often family owned. Painter said she hopes to share some of the knowledge from the ALP to those owners, such as changes in state laws affecting those businesses.
Creating leaders in rural communities
Painter doesn’t come from an agricultural background, but she is well versed in rural communities. She previously was executive director of the Orange County Economic Development Partnership and was executive director of Visit French Lick West Baden. In 2019, she was a delegate to Indiana Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch’s Indiana Agricultural, Tourism and Trade Mission to Mexico City.
“I may not be a typical candidate for this leadership program, but they are trying to create leaders in rural areas and that’s what I’m going to lean into,” she said.
During the two-year program, participants will attend 12 seminars, travel to Washington D.C. to meet with national leaders, and spend two weeks in a foreign country studying international issues. There will also be group and individual projects.
The 2024-26 group represents the 21th class of the program, which has been building leadership ability for more than 40 years with nearly 550 program graduates. A wide variety of agricultural interests and industries are represented in the new class. Members went through an extensive application and interview process to be selected for this highly acclaimed professional development opportunity.