Congressman says preserving land and boosting organic ag
resources are county’s best future
Amid a field of organic heirloom tomatoes, the air perfumed with
varieties of peppers, Congressman Sam Farr told a dozen Mexican
farm laborers outside of Hollister he was fighting to help
them.
Congressman says preserving land and boosting organic ag resources are county’s best future
Amid a field of organic heirloom tomatoes, the air perfumed with varieties of peppers, Congressman Sam Farr told a dozen Mexican farm laborers outside of Hollister he was fighting to help them.
At the same time, he instilled a sense of pride in all present, press hacks and field workers alike, that operations like the Mariquita Organic Farm in north San Benito County are “the essence of American farming.”
It was a theme Farr (D-Monterey) echoed throughout his annual tour of the 17th District this week, which covers all of San Benito and the coastal areas of Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. Last week, Farr spoke at a luncheon of SBC Chamber of Commerce members and made the rounds through Santa Cruz. On Wednesday he championed the fight to save Monterey’s sea otters, visited several businesses including Mariquita Farms, and that evening went on to speak at a Town Hall Meeting at the county administration building in Hollister.
It was at a recent Farm Bureau dinner that Mariquita Farms owner Andy Griffin asked Farr if he would speak to his long-time immigrant workers. The 40-acre Mariquita is one of two organic farms – the other in Watsonville – that Griffin and his partner lease. Griffin also hosts a radio show, “Life on the Farm” on KUSP-FM.
Using organic methods, they are able to grow 60 different kinds of veggies and berries, and so employ their workers year-round, instead of seasonally. Griffin says most of his workers are a loyal force and have been with him from eight to 12 years. For nine years the operation has provided individual clients with weekly boxes of diverse organic produce, and the business has grown by some 100 customers a year.
“This is really what niche marketing is,” Farr said. “Andy asked me to come out and speak to his workers because he said they are terrified” – about the battle being waged in Congress over immigration policy.
Speaking in Spanish to the farm workers, Farr tried to explain the difference between what the House proposes (amnesty for those immigrants already here) and what the Senate and Bush Administration favor – a final solution involving any combination of fines for obtaining guest visas, a new Berlin-styled wall stretching over the border of three states, and deportation.
“Gringos, like the ones you see here,” Farr said gesturing to the press corps behind him, “not one of us have a card that says we’re U.S. citizens. In my opinion, immigration officials and the police are too busy at the border and looking for drunk drivers to come here. They have enough problems.”
Farr said it’s an issue dear to his heart since the majority of immigrants work in California, many from the Salinas-Castroville “Lettuce Curtain” area of his district. But, he told reporters, the issue was “so hot, and so mean,” he doubted that anything would be resolved before the November elections.
Griffin made his feelings on the issue plain.
“I don’t have a farm labor shortage because I employ year-round” Griffin said. “The whole idea is to create some stability. These people have been here a long time. No one ever gets into trouble. Everyone’s paying taxes. They’re looking for a little respect. And I have never met the gavacho [Spanish slang for “American”] who has shown up and asked for his ‘stolen job.'”
At a luncheon held in Hollister last week, Farr told San Benito business and political leaders that, again, the county’s uniqueness lies in its agricultural and natural resources.
Speaking to a group of about 60 at the Ridgemark Golf and Country Club, Farr praised the county as a vanguard in agricultural tourism, and added that its agricultural economy and tourist draw to places such as the Pinnacles National Monument and historic San Juan Bautista are dependent on transportation infrastructure.
But money for better highways, he said, was lacking from the federal level because of the sinkhole of spending thrown into the seemingly endless Iraq War.
“The population of Iraq is 46 million,” Farr said. “The population in California is 36 million. We’re spending $100 billion on this war every year – that’s the entire annual budget for this state. And the war isn’t getting any better.”
Farr did not support the war from the beginning, and said those politicians who did are now feeling it at the ballot box. He pointed to the recent defeat of former Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman, who lost his bid for re-election to the Senate this week.
“The message is going to felt around the country,” he said.
Farr added that the war has helped put the nation $9 trillion in debt, which in one scenario translates to $130,000 from each man, woman and child in the U.S. to fix it.
“The people who ran on fiscal conservancy are spending madly on this war,” Farr said. “It’s all going to come home and I predict we will have to make Draconian cuts in the budget to get out of it.”
On a more pleasant note, Farr talked of the beautiful mountains, open space and climate of San Benito, adding it was “the job of local government to preserve them.”
“Small San Benito County doesn’t have the big city feel of San Francisco,” Farr said. “But San Francisco doesn’t have the Pinnacles (National Monument) or wine tasting. San Juan Bautista is creating its own historic character and soul but Gilroy’s booming up north with shopping areas and bright lights.”
The Congressman predicted that strip malls are going to go out of style when teens quit hanging out at them and turn their attention to the ever-growing Information Age born of the computer.
“There’s going to be a huge economic revolution in America,” he said. “And the Central Coast is going to be known as the wine center of the world.”
Farr has been representing the 17th District in Congress for 12 years. Before that he was in the state Assembly for 12 years.
Attendees at the event included Supervisor Reb Monaco, Superintendent of Schools Tim Foley, San Juan Oaks spokesman Scott Fuller, Hazel Hawkins Hospital Administrator Ken Underwood and City Councilman Doug Emerson. The luncheon and presentation was sponsored by Ken Gimelli of San Juan Oaks, and organized by the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce. New Chamber President Frankie Valent-Arballo introduced the Congressman.
