Ismael Perez grew up in California\u2019s Central Coast region, a prolific agricultural area that\u2019s well known for producing the vast majority of the United States\u2019 berries, lettuces, artichokes, and other fresh produce. As soon as he graduated high school, Ismael himself got involved in the berry industry by getting a summer job picking raspberries. That summer job rolled into more berrypicking summers, and eventually Ismael was given enough promotions that he was working every day of the week with time off only for attending school at San Jose State University.<\/p>\n
The work-school balance was heavy, but it\u2019s what sparked Ismael\u2019s interest in agriculture. \u201cWhen I started as a foreman, I was getting pretty good checks every week. So for me it was just a source of income,\u201d Ismael recalls. \u201cBut then learning about other positions, I started asking more questions. \u2018Why is this, or why does the plant do this, or how does the plant get to the point where I see it?\u2019 When I was just picking, I never saw the plants when they were planted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ismael graduated from San Jose State University with a degree in economics, a subject he was guided toward but didn\u2019t meet his needs or career goal to someday own his own business. When a job in economics didn\u2019t materialize, Ismael ended up back on the berry farm. By then, he\u2019d started getting answers to his questions about agriculture, and the seed was planted in his mind to consider farming on his own.<\/p>\n
The final nudge toward organic for Ismael came when he got a new job spraying pesticides on a company\u2019s crops. \u201cIt was for a really big company and it was just a bunch of experiments\u2014not really production,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe were spraying these pesticides with return intervals of 24 hours, 48 hours, or 72 hours, twice a week! And I\u2019m thinking, \u2018We\u2019re spraying these things, and we can\u2019t even get near the plant for two to three days, but it\u2019s ok to feed people the fruit when it wears off?\u2019 Plants are like towels because they absorb everything, so everything that is in the plant, it\u2019s in the fruit\u2014but that\u2019s ok? Then I left from there to where I work now in organic.\u201d<\/p>\n
After months of encouragement from his brother, Ismael enrolled in the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association\u2019s Farmer Education Course (PEPA) in organic farming practices and farm business management. \u201cMy brother actually told me to do it. He said, \u2018I\u2019ll pay tuition; once you go big, just pay me back,\u201d Ismael explains. Then, Ismael earned a CCOF Foundation Future Organic Farmer grant that put $5,000 toward his ALBA expenses. \u201cNow I don\u2019t have to go ask him for that money. I know I can pay for it. It helps not having to go ask for that money every time to pay for the class.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ismael\u2019s work background continues to shape his experience learning about organic agriculture and adds to his enthusiasm, since he\u2019s seen the conventional side up close. \u201cI think it\u2019s just the fact that you can grow something to the point of harvest without having to destroy the soil more than it already has been in the past,\u201d he explains. \u201cI\u2019ve seen how they treat the dirt here. Pesticides are applied, and they kill everything there. Everything in the dirt, until there are literally no organisms within the soil.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut in organic,\u201d he says, \u201corganisms help break down fertilizers to provide nutrients for the plants to grow. It\u2019s just more of the way nature was made to run. Like integrated pest control\u2014it\u2019s using nature to control nature, so it\u2019s more natural. It\u2019s the way the system was made to function.\u201d<\/p>\n
This enthusiasm for organic has fueled big goals for Ismael. \u201cFirst of all, I see myself working full time toward my own business, not working for someone else. That\u2019s the number one goal: focus 100% on growing the amount of land I grow on. I want to be farming 20 to 30 acres within five years.\u201d<\/p>\n
But his ambitions go even beyond that\u2014Ismael also wants to increase representation of Hispanic communities in agriculture. \u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of diversity when it comes to owners of big businesses, and changing that is one of my other goals. I want to get my farm as big as I can, whether it takes me 20, 30, 40, or even 50 years. Or hopefully my kids one day like agriculture like me and they\u2019ll keep pushing towards that goal so that one day there will be someone with a Hispanic last name somewhere in the mix.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy, especially for someone being Hispanic in and in the United States,\u201d Ismael continues. \u201cIt\u2019s hard. That\u2019s what pushes me to hopefully one day increase the percentage of farm owners like me and hopefully be in a diversity of people who are up in the mix.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, all of Ismael\u2019s experiences came together at the right time with a bit of encouragement to set him on this path of organic agriculture. Even from the beginning, Ismael says, \u201cMy grandpa worked in the fields. He grew crops on one of my uncle\u2019s lands, and I learned a lot there. I liked it, but didn\u2019t really have an interest in it. I guess I was still too young, but now that I\u2019m older, I think [my interest] started back then when I was with my grandpa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Financial support like the CCOF Foundation\u2019s Future Organic Farmer grants can be the encouraging nudge that makes farmers like Ismael feel validated and soften the financial risk students take on.<\/p>\n