Podcast 5: Borderlands of the San Joaquin Valley

In this podcast, listeners hear about the waves of immigrants who have shaped California's agricultural empire-- the great Central Valley. Much of this podcast comes from our latest live event, "Borderlands of the San Joaquin Valley."

Janaki Jagannath describes the ways that small immigrant farmers carve out niches in the industrial agricultural landscape of the Central Valley and experiment with innovative farming techniques that bring the soil to life. Poets Marisol Baca and Aideed Medina collaborate on two poems that powerfully illustrate the inter-weaving of cultures in the Valley and that speak to the immigrant experience in a time of increasing anti-immigrant oppression. Long-time Valley activist Lupe Martinez plays folk and organizing songs on guitar throughout the podcast.

"Despite those billboards that say 'farmers feed the world,' there's a far less glamorous group of farmers that are feeding the community." –Organizer Janaki Jagannath

"We are gathered at the Filipino Hall at sunset, the sweet-smelling ladies of the Society of Mary cooing motherly to a Chicanita in Tagalog. –Poet Aideed Medina

"The Central Valley is a landscape that has been shaped by wave after wave of immigrants. From the Chinese to the Japanese to the Filipinos to the Portuguese to the Armenians to the Sikhs to the Hmong, dozens of groups of people from all around the globe, really, have dug their shovels and their fingers into California dirt." - Ildi Carlisle-Cummins, Cal Ag Roots Director