By CDFA Secretary Karen Ross
I was pleased to visit the Central Valley for two days last week and honored to be asked to attend a ribbon cutting for a new milk processing plant, appear at a farewell for a friend and widely respected leader in agriculture, and participate in a roundtable discussion on immigration with stakeholders and representatives of Congressional and State legislative offices.
My first stop was in Bakersfield, where California Dairies Inc (CDI) was celebrating a new facility for ultra-pasteurized shelf-stable milk. CDI is the largest farmer-owned cooperative in California–comprised of 200 dairy families–and the second largest in the US. It processes and markets milk from its member dairies, producing a variety of products, including butter, milk powder, and fluid milk.
The new plant, which has been open now for about four weeks, supplies 90 jobs in the local community. Construction was completed over an impressive 18-month period thanks to a strong partnership with city and county government. Dairy products are our second-largest export commodity and are sought by key trading partners like Mexico, China, Japan and Canada.
I then traveled to Fresno for a retirement dinner for Kathleen Nave, who spent 38 years at the California Table Grape Commission, the last 26 as CEO. She oversaw remarkable growth through creative and effective marketing programs, substantial expansion in overseas markets, and innovative research to produce new varietals and solutions for growers. While Kathleen will be greatly missed, the future of the Grape Commission is in good hands with Ian LeMay as the incoming CEO.
While in Fresno I participated in an immigration roundtable hosted by the Central Valley Community Foundation. This was a listening session to hear about issues facing the agricultural workforce, their families, employers, and communities. I appreciated the participation of so many representatives of elected leaders who are working together on this complex issue –- one which is key to the economy of this region. According to the Central Valley Immigration Integration Collaborative, 27 percent of California’s population is foreign born and 900,000 immigrants reside in the Central Valley, which is also home to a half a million children with at least one foreign-born parent.
The Central Valley is the hub of California agriculture as well as the nation. I am grateful every time I have an opportunity to spend time in this special place — to learn more about the opportunities and challenges ahead.