Angel Cortes was ready for a change.
Cortez, 43, is a Mexican immigrant who has worked in farming, landscaping and restaurants since arriving in California more than 25 years ago. But he said an injury nearly a decade ago made physical labor on the job — jobs that required him to stand or walk for long periods of time — extremely painful.
He was trying to move into things he could do mostly while sitting. But his options seemed limited: He had a high school education in Mexico, but he didn’t speak English well and wasn’t comfortable using a computer. So when he heard about a program at Merced College that would help him develop new skills for farming, he took a leap.
Cortez, a father of four, is part of the first cohort of a new certification program launched last month at seven Central Valley community colleges aimed at providing farmworkers as the state’s agricultural powerhouse moves toward a mechanized future.
As more farms switch to drip irrigation systems, GPS-guided tractors and robots that kill weeds with focused laser beams, the certification program aims to prepare 8,400 workers for high-tech, well-paying jobs by the end of 2026. sector. . Free for employees to join.
The program is one component of a larger effort to promote agricultural innovation in the Central Valley. Awarded by the Federal Office of Economic Development in 2022 $65.1 million to the union of organizations headed by Central Valley Community Foundationwho are working to integrate the technology into broader farming operations in the region.
The opportunity comes at a time of transition for California agriculture. The industry faces higher labor costs as a result of state laws that raise the minimum wage and require overtime for farmworkers. The workforce is aging And immigration from Mexico, once a steady source of new workers, has slowed. And farmers face pressure to develop long-term methods of growing crops as the state imposes stricter regulations on groundwater and pesticides, and as global warming creates more extreme seasonal weather patterns.
The industry is turning to robotic harvesters, hydroponic farming and other emerging technologies to solve some of these problems.
Marco César Lizarraga, the company’s chief executive, said that as farming methods advance, workers must be retrained. California Farmers Cooperativea state association of agencies that administer agricultural service programs.
“The farm worker as we know it will not exist in 10 to 15 years,” Lizárraga said. “It will be a much smarter farm worker and more operator of robotic equipment.”
Michael Cannon, President and CEO Bowles Agricultural Company In Merced County, he echoed those sentiments, saying, “We’re constantly trying to find ways to automate or transform or have higher-paying jobs for more active people.”
To understand what skills farmworkers will need to acquire in the new economy, university instructors turned to agricultural leaders for feedback.
Farmers said they need workers with a variety of technical skills, people trained to use tablets and computers to understand complex pesticide regulations, said Karen Aceves, regional director of AgTEC. Fresno-Merced The future of food innovation initiative
“We need people who can do math, problem solve, be critical thinkers and understand the entire agricultural value chain,” Aswes said of farmers. “We don’t know what the industry will look like in five or 10 years, so we want people to grow … and we want to keep the farmworkers we have.”
The design of the program also It was based on surveys more than 10,000 farmworkers, conducted by grassroots organizations in tax preparation activities, food distribution sites, and markets. Most respondents had a high school education or less. They preferred to access online courses from home and after work hours and were willing to travel 10 miles or less to receive an in-person lesson.
Students enrolled in the course study at their own pace through online courses and videos and take in-person exams on college campuses. Cody Jacobsen, chief innovation officer at Merced College, said the program is the first in the California community college system designed as a competency-based education, meaning students must demonstrate mastery of specific skills rather than receive traditional grades.
The first lessons focused on digital literacy, including how to use computers, email and various systems to track fertilizer and pesticide use, said Carl Montague, who teaches the course at Merced College. Later in the program, students learn how to operate and troubleshoot high-tech equipment and how to read and understand chemical labels. The course concludes with instruction in workplace communication, including developing an effective resume.
Participating universities have hired student support coordinators who help enroll students, register for classes and connect them with resources such as laptops and transportation.
In conjunction with Merced College, the certificate program is offered at Madera, Fresno City, Clovis, Ridley, Lemoore, and Coalinga Colleges. It is available in English and Spanish and is open to anyone regardless of immigration status.
At Merced College, seven of the 23 students enrolled so far are farmworkers, according to a college spokeswoman. Other students include construction workers and participants in programs for formerly incarcerated adults. They range in age from 19 to 57.
A few weeks after the course, Cortés said he felt more comfortable using the computer.
“I didn’t even know how to turn it on before,” she said. Now, “I have my daughter’s laptop, and I use it in the evenings to go to places with Wi-Fi and study.”
It seems his career options are already expanding. He recently completed a private forklift driving course at Modesto Junior College. And as he continues to pursue an agricultural certificate at Merced College, he said he hopes to put his new computer skills to use as a DoorDash driver.
Antonio De Loera-Brust, communications director for United Workers, cautioned against overestimating the impact of programs like community college efforts, noting that the vast majority of farmworkers will be toiling in the fields for years to come.
She acknowledged the benefits of training farmworkers for lucrative jobs. But, she noted, “’everyone gets a promotion’ is not a scalable solution to farmworker poverty.”
“Let us not forget all the agricultural workers who for whatever reason do not have this opportunity,” he said. For this reason, he said, the union pays a lot of attention to improving work on farms by improving wages and working conditions.
This article is part of The Times. equity reporting initiative, It is funded James Irwin FoundationStudy of the challenges faced by low-income workers and efforts to address them California’s economic inequality.
