Why Supporting Your Local Farmworkers Is Essential
May 26, 2021 Did you ever hear of or read about something that immediately had you thinking, “This makes so much sense, it’s surprising I haven’t seen it done before?” That’s how I felt after reading a news story in my local newspaper, The Modesto (CA) Bee, about how local organizations got together to present a new award, Farmworker of the Year.
The Farmworker of the Year winner, Razo Barron, has paid his dues, working in the fields since the 1970s. Now an orchard supervisor at Blossom Hill/Beard’s Quality Nut in the nearby town of Oakdale, Barron grew concerned early last year about how serious COVID-19 was becoming. He was quick to act, his daughter and job assistant, Alex Barron, said. Her father and company owner Bruce Beard had her research and create employee training, she told the newspaper.
She worked with the company’s human resources consultants, the county health department, and the Centers for Disease Control, and together she and her father shared the information with employees.
“He then made sure to follow up, ensuring social distancing and sanitation at our sites,” she said.
The program was a success, as not one of the company’s employees came down with COVID-19. Barron was nominated by his daughter, as well as Beard, for Farmworker of the Year, which was developed by the Modesto Rotary Club, the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, and AgSafe, which is headquartered in Modesto.
“Razo’s work ethic and values are hard to come by,” Beard said in nominating the company employee of 35 years. “He oversees all of our orchard operations and labor from beginning to end. … Razo takes it upon himself to motivate the crew and guide efficient activity. Many times, we find out about challenges out in the orchard after the fact, because Razo troubleshoots on his own and is able to execute with limited resources.”
Beard noted Barron doesn’t miss a thing, quickly and diligently protecting workers, but also promoting crop growth, “covering all the bases.”
The Rotary Club came up with the award to honor the essential workers who have kept the necessities of food, shelter, supplies, and health care in place during the pandemic. Club members agreed farmworkers are often an overlooked category among the workers. They “are often unseen and unfortunately not thanked enough,” club President Ryan Dziadosz said.
I think this award makes perfect sense, and Barron is surely a worthy recipient. But it shouldn’t take a pandemic to make us realize how valuable farmworkers are to this country, not only to the farming communities that would be in serious trouble without them, but to all of us who consume fruits and vegetables. In other words, everybody.
Why don’t you consider spearheading a drive to create such an award in your community? It promises to be a win/win effort. Farmworkers deserve recognition for their hard work. I defy anyone to outwork some of the farmworkers I have seen. They are flat-out amazing; their sustained picking speed is practically a blur.
But it’s not just the farmworkers — all of us deeply committed to agriculture benefit from such an award.
So few Americans are directly involved with it, or know much at all about it, any good publicity we can get will help educate the public. The more people know about agriculture, the more they are inclined to support it, which is increasingly important in our increasingly over-regulated society.
Modesto is an ag town. After all, its motto is “Water, Wealth, Contentment, Health.” But most of my neighbors don’t know much more about agriculture than those in a Park Avenue skyscraper. Think about starting such a program in your community; it really is a win/win.
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