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Strawberry Fields Forever

By Jeffrey Young



In the Capay Valley, along the foothills of the Central Valley to the northwest of Woodland, Celso Chavez tends a strawberry patch for Full Belly Farm. One of 20 full-time employees, he’s been working on the 250-acre organic farm since 1989, an immigrant from the state of Sinaloa in Mexico. In 1997 he became a U.S. citizen. Three brothers, their wives and children, all work at the farm, too.
    The strawberry crop — interestingly, the plant is a member of the rose family — is set out in October and harvested in April. Surrounded by electric fencing to keep out the deer, the one-acre patch yields about 1,200 flats, each with 12 baskets of strawberries. When the crop is ripe, Chavez and his co-workers pick from dawn to dusk. The berries are sold primarily at farmer’s markets in Davis, Berkeley, San Rafael and Palo Alto.
    Chavez recently bought his own home in the nearby unincorporated hamlet of Guinda. A modern-day example of the American Dream, he is also a strong supporter of undocumented workers. “These workers are helping the American economy,” he says, taking a break from checking this year’s strawberry crop, which is just peeking out from under the weed fabric. “The government should grant them amnesty.”
    Strawberries, and America, have been good to Celso Chavez.

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