California farmworkers produce half of the nation’s fresh fruits, vegetables, and nuts, yet many of these essential workers can’t find safe and affordable places to live. This plight is highlighted in Lydia Lee’s recent Alta Journal article, “How to Grow Good Housing.” According to Joe Garcia, president and founder of the California Farmworker Foundation, “housing is the number-one issue facing farmworkers.” Garcia joins Alta Live to describe the challenges agricultural employees face, share the ways certain farm owners are attempting to solve the problem, and detail exactly how a seasonal worker’s inability to secure safe and affordable housing directly impacts those of us who rely on their hard work to eat.
About the guest:
Joe Garcia was born in Mercedes, Texas, but grew up in the community of King City, California, where he worked throughout his childhood in the fertile lands of the Salinas Valley. Garcia comes from a family of farmworkers who would travel from Texas to California following the harvest, and he has never forgotten the hard work ethic of his grandparents and family. Garcia attended Hartnell College, in Salinas, and Fresno City College before transferring to Fresno State, completing his bachelor’s in 1995. Garcia worked for AG Producers, a company that supported the citrus industry, and then as the director of Human Resources for Pandol Brothers. After a successful career at Pandol, Garcia became a farm-labor contractor, starting Jaguar Farm Labor Contracting in 2005. Today, Garcia is the owner of various companies in California and during peak season employs over 4,000 farmworkers throughout the state. Garcia is also the president and founder of the California Valley Farmworker Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is to serve and support Central Valley farmworkers by providing programs and services to better their quality of life.•
