Central Valley effort aims to train farmworkers to master the technology replacing fieldwork

Angel Cortez was ready for a change.

Cortez, 43, is a Mexican immigrant who has worked in agriculture, landscaping and restaurants since he arrived in California more than 25 years ago. But he said a workplace injury nearly a decade ago has made physical labor — jobs requiring him to stand or walk for long periods — exceedingly painful.

He has been looking to transition into jobs he could do primarily while seated. But his options felt limited: He has a high school education from Mexico, but doesn’t speak English fluently 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 agriculture, he took a leap.

Cortez, a father of four, is part of the first cohort in a new certificate program launched last month at seven Central Valley community colleges that aims to ensure farmworkers don’t get displaced as the state’s powerhouse agricultural industry transitions to a more mechanized future.

As more farms move to drip irrigation systems, tractors that propel themselves with GPS guidance and robots that eliminate weeds with focused laser bursts, the certificate program aims to prepare 8,400 workers for higher-tech, higher-paying jobs in agriculture by the end of 2026. It is free to workers who enroll.

The program is one component of a larger effort to drive agricultural innovation in the Central Valley. The federal Economic Development Administration in 2022 awarded $65.1 million to a coalition of organizations, led by the Central Valley Community Foundation, that are working to integrate technology into the region’s vast farming operations.

The opportunity comes at a moment of transition for California agriculture. The industry is facing higher employee costs, resulting from state laws raising the minimum wage and requiring overtime pay for farmworkers. The labor force is aging, and immigration from Mexico — once a steady source of new workers — has slowed. And farmers are facing pressure to evolve long-standing methodologies for nurturing crops as the state enacts stricter regulations on groundwater and pesticide use and as climate change creates more extreme seasonal weather patterns.

The industry is turning to robotic harvesters, hydroponic tabletop farming and other developing technologies to address some of those challenges.

As farming methods advance, workers need to be retrained, said Marco Cesar Lizarraga, executive director of La Cooperativa Campesina de California, a statewide association of agencies administering farmworker service programs.

“As we know it, the farmworker is no longer going to exist in another 10, 15 years,” Lizarraga said. “It’s going to be a farmworker that’s much more savvy and much more of an operator of robotic equipment.”

Cannon Michael, president and CEO of Bowles Farming Co. in Merced County, echoed those sentiments, saying, “We’re constantly trying to look for ways to automate, or change, or have higher-paying jobs for higher-functioning individuals.”

To get a sense of the kinds of skills farmworkers will need to master in the new ag economy, the college instructors turned to agricultural leaders for feedback.

Growers said they need workers with a range of technical skills, people trained in the use of tablets and computers, who understand the complex regulations surrounding pesticides and can be promoted into management roles, said Karen Aceves, regional director for AgTEC, the workforce initiative within the Fresno-Merced Future of Food Innovation initiative.

“We need people who can do math, who can problem-solve, who are critical thinkers, who understand the whole ag value chain,” Aceves recalled growers saying. “We don’t know what the industry is going to look like in five and 10 years, so we want people that can grow. ... And we want to keep the farmworkers that we have.”

The program’s design also drew on surveys of more than 10,000 farmworkers, conducted by grassroots organizations at tax preparation events, food distribution sites and flea markets. Most respondents had a middle school education or less. They preferred access to online courses from home and after work hours, and wanted to travel 10 miles or less for an in-person class.

Students enrolled in the program study at their own pace through online courses and videos and take exams on campus. The program is the first in the California community college system designed as competency-based education, meaning that rather than earning traditional grades, students must prove mastery of specific skills, said Cody Jacobsen, director of ag innovation at Merced College.

The first lessons have focused on digital literacy — including how to use the computer, email and different systems for tracking fertilizer and pesticide use, said Karl Montague, who is teaching the course at Merced College. Later in the program, students will learn to operate and troubleshoot high-tech equipment, and read and understand chemical labels. The course ends with a primer on workplace communication, including crafting an effective resume.

The colleges involved have hired student support coordinators, who help recruit students, assist them with registering for classes and connect them with resources such as laptops and transportation.

Along with Merced College, the certificate program is being offered at Madera, Fresno City, Clovis, Reedley, Lemoore and Coalinga colleges. It’s available in English and Spanish, and open to everyone regardless of immigration status.

At Merced College, seven of the 23 students enrolled so far are farm laborers, according to a college spokesperson. Among the other students are construction workers and participants in a program for formerly incarcerated adults. They range in age from 19 to 57.

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Several weeks into the course, Cortez said he’s become much more comfortable using the computer.

“Before, I didn’t even know how to turn it on,” he said. Now, “I have my daughter’s laptop, and with this I go to places with Wi-Fi to study in the afternoons.”

It seems his career options are already expanding. He recently finished a separate forklift driving course at Modesto Junior College. And while he continues pursuing the agriculture certificate at Merced College, he said, he hopes to put his new computer skills to use as a driver for DoorDash.

Antonio De Loera-Brust, communications director for the United Farm Workers, cautioned against overestimating the impacts of programs like the community college effort, noting that the vast majority of farmworkers will be toiling in the fields for years to come.

He acknowledged the benefits of training farmworkers for higher-paying jobs. But, he noted, “‘everyone get promoted’ is not a scalable solution to farmworker poverty.”

“Let’s not forget all the farmworkers who, for any number of reasons, will never have that opportunity,” he said. For that reason, he said, the union continues to focus on improving farm jobs through better wages and safer working conditions.

This article is part of The Times’ equity reporting initiative, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, exploring the challenges facing low-income workers and the efforts being made to address California’s economic divide.