South Central Farmers Receive a Visit From CSUMB Students

Ricky Welshiemer, Assistant News Editor

Richard _Welshiemer@csumb.edu

May 1, 2008

Rooted deep in the hearts of many

CSU Monterey Bay (CSUMB) students

is a passion for farming and gardening.

Recently CSUMB students involved with

El Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de

Aztlan (M.E.Ch.A) visited an organization

called South Central Farmers Feeding

Families in Bakersfield, CA.

South Central Farmers started as a

co-op in 1992 in the Los Angeles (LA)

area by a group of farmers who created a

community garden in south central LA on

borrowed land. According to their website,

southcentralfarmers.com, it was believed

to be one of the largest urban gardens in

the U.S.

Human Communication junior Rudy

Medina, a co-chair of (M.E.Ch.A) on the

CSUMB campus, says the South Central

Farmers were evicted from the land where

they had their garden in LA. “There was

a lawsuit and a number of protest and

sit-ins in the land [garden] which led to

a number of arrests,” said Medina. After

the farmers lost their land they moved the

farm to Bakersfield and started their own

organization called South Central Farmers

Feeding Families.

“What’s important to know is that these

farmers are only weekend farmers, they

have their regular jobs during the week and

on the weekends they drive all the way up

to Bakersfield to take care of their produce,”

said Medina. “South Central Farmers are

really just volunteers who care about their

community and who want to feed them

because no one else is doing it.”

“We had the opportunity to work along

side with them [gardeners] and get to know

some of them on a more personal level. I

love the way their organization is ran, they

do not have a hierocracy, the community

gets to decide their rules and regulations,”

said Medina.

Medina and other M.E.Chistas started

their day off in Bakersfield at the all-organic

grown farm a little after 10 a.m. and continued

working until the sun started to set around 8

p.m. “We got to experience the Bakersfield

hot weather, and as the sun started going

down we experienced high winds. It was a

cool experience,” said Medina.

Medina and the other students came back

with a new perspective on farming from

their visit. “I know it opened my eyes and

gave me a new respect for farm workers. I

would highly recommend people to go one

weekend and help,” said Medina.

If interested in participating

and visiting the South Central

Farmers contact Rudy Medina

at rudy_medina@csumb.edu.