CALIFORNIA (By Marjorie Hernandez and Lisa Hoffman, InsideVC.com) September 23, 2007 — Hector Gutierrez's teenage years were filled with memories of long summers picking vegetables and fruits under the hot Sacramento sun.

The son of a migrant farmworker, Gutierrez dreamed of someday owning his own farm. Once a ranch manager, Gutierrez is now one of three owners of Otilio Farms, which has 140 acres of strawberry fields in Camarillo and Ventura. He joins other Hispanic farmers in making up the fastest-growing segment of farm and ranch operators nationwide.

"When you are working for something for such a long time, it becomes a dream of your own," he said. "From a very young age, I saw myself doing this. It's the love for the land ... and if you work hard enough and have faith, things can work out."

Gutierrez and his partners lease the land but own their strawberry farm operation.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of Hispanic farm operators has more than doubled in the past decade. Every state has registered an increase, with California having a 117 percent increase from 1997 to 2002, according to Census of Agriculture data. States with the most Hispanic farmers include California, Texas, New Mexico, Florida and Colorado.

"Historically, there have been pockets of Hispanics working in the fields as migrant workers for years, but now we are finding that this group plays a bigger role in the agricultural industry," said Hector Flores, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

To be sure, the overall numbers cast a small shadow on America's agricultural map. Of the more than 3 million U.S. farmers, only about 50,600 are Latinos.

The number of Hispanic farm owners has reached a sufficient size that the Association of Latino/Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers was formed in August. The new group held its first national conference Aug. 25-28 in Las Cruces, N.M.

Agriculture experts cite a number of factors that have contributed to more Hispanic farms, which are predominantly family farms.

According to Ron Strochlic, interim executive director of the California Institute for Rural Studies, immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries have farming experience.

"When the opportunity to own their own land presents itself, they are often more poised and willing to take on the risks than American farmers," he said. "It's a different mind-set. When you come from an agricultural country, that is something you aspire to do."

Less dependent on bank loans.

Unlike their counterparts in other demographic groups, Latino farmers are far less dependent on government or bank loans, which has left them without the crushing debt that has driven many smaller operators to sell and get out of the business. Their farms also are family endeavors, in which relatives work long hours together and pool resources, Strochlic said.

"Family labor is also sometimes cheaper, and they are working harder because they are more invested in the farm operation," Strochlic said.

In some cases, longtime Anglo farmers whose children have left for jobs in the city are selling their land to the workers — often Hispanic — who have labored long and hard on the farms for years.

After years of working as a ranch foreman, Lorenzo Vega jumped at the opportunity to purchase a 65-acre lemon orchard between Santa Paula and Fillmore in the 1980s. He also became a farm labor contractor.

Vega's youngest son, Henry, followed in his footsteps and now owns Coastal Harvesting, a farmworker contracting company in Santa Paula. Henry, 43, also helps run the lemon farm and owns part of the orchard trust. He is also the first vice president of the Farm Bureau of Ventura County.

That is no small post in a county that has a $1 billion agricultural industry.

"Hispanics tend to be very entrepreneurial. You like to have your hand out less," Vega said, crediting his father with instilling in him a belief in the worth of hard work.

Vega and others said Latino farmers, who tend to have relatively small operations, also have a tradition of growing diverse crops so a price drop for one doesn't bring doom.

They also have been beneficiaries of the expanding Latino population, which has brought a booming market for fruits and vegetables such as those they ate in the "old country." Recognizing that mainstream America's palate also is broadening, some Latino farmers are taking advantage of new demand for specialty produce and organic products.

To help usher the growth of Hispanic farm owners, organizations such as the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association in Salinas is providing training for aspiring farmworkers who otherwise wouldn't have the resources to pursue small-scale family farming on their own.

The Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association offers a six-month classroom-based program to teach farm management, agronomy, business management, post-harvest techniques and other skills. The classes are held in Salinas, start in October and end in March. Last year, 17 people graduated from the course and went on to farm in the 110 acres that the association owns in Salinas, program coordinator Deborah Yashar said.

The program has not yet reached Ventura, Yashar said.

Although the program is open to all ethnicities, Latinos make up a majority of participants, Yashar said.

Because of the growth in Hispanic ownership, association President Rudy Arredondo said, it is time "to set an agenda for the Latino farmers instead of being on others' coattails." At least 150 farmers and ranchers are members of the group so far.

Part of a migrant-worker family, Arredondo as a child picked cotton, potatoes, sugar beets, cherries and asparagus in a circuit around the country.

He went on to become a founding figure in the United Farm Workers of America movement and now, at 63, is turning his organizing skills to forming an association that can wield influence to level the field for Hispanics in such critical areas as obtaining loans and subsidies from banks and government programs as well as marketing products and securing water rights.

On another track, some Hispanic farmers have sued the federal Agriculture Department, alleging they have been victims of the same racial discrimination that black farmers have endured in the granting of loans. Black farmers won a landmark legal settlement in 1999 when the department acknowledged a historical pattern of bias and vowed to make things right.

Arredondo said his organization aims to develop a collegial, mutually beneficial relationship with federal agriculture officials, and invited Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns to the conference.

'It's the American dream'

"We would like to work with the (Agriculture Department) rather than take an adversarial approach," Arredondo said.

Although he is proud Latinos are taking ownership of lucrative farms, Henry Vega said the dream is open for anyone with tenacity and a good work ethic.

"It's the American dream," he said.

"As Hispanics, we have been involved in the culture of harvesting, but it is not exclusive to one sector of society, nationality or background. It's the spirit of hard work ... and entrepreneurship."