The report – “Growing the American Dream: California Strawberry Farming's Rich History of Immigrants & Opportunity” – documents the rich history illustrating the role strawberry farming plays in providing opportunity for countless immigrants.
The report says that perhaps more than any other crop, strawberries are defined by decades of immigrants from Europe, Asia and Mexico. Not only do they work in the fields as harvesters, but they benefit from the unique attributes of strawberry farming that create numerous opportunities for upward mobility, including farm ownership.
A key theme in this new report focuses on how the crop has provided opportunity for immigrants dating back at least to the early 1900s, when immigrants from Europe and especially Japan began establishing themselves as skilled strawberry farmers. Today, an estimated 65 percent of all the state's strawberry farmers are of Mexican-American descent, according to the report. About 25 percent of these Latino strawberry farmers started out as field workers and worked their way up to become farm owners.
According to the report, this path to ownership is possible because of a number of unique characteristics inherent to strawberry farming which support an environment for small farmers to operate successful businesses. These factors include lower barriers to entry, the ability to harvest a high-yield crop nearly year round on a small amount of land, and heavy consumer demand.
Strawberries have given Latinos more ownership opportunities than any other major crop. Latinos now comprise two-thirds of strawberry growers in California, where 90 percent of the nation's strawberries are grown.
Source: California Strawberry Commission, Growing the American Dream: California Strawberry Farming's Rich History of Immigrants & Opportunity, July 1, 2014.
