A bold new agricultural initiative is taking shape in Calipatria. The Becoming Project, Inc. has been awarded a $240,000 planning grant through the California Jobs First Initiative to launch Forever Green Farms, a hydroponics and aquaponics site that promises to deliver food, jobs, and training to one of California's most economically challenged regions. The farm is a joint effort between The Becoming Project, Inc., and community leader William Cooper, who brings his experience to the project.
"I am currently a sector lead for Disinvested Communities for the California Job Search Initiative. It is a partnership with the governor's office to do job creation and lower emissions in the period," Cooper said in an in-depth interview with the Imperial Valley Press.
With Imperial County's high unemployment rate hovering near 16%, Cooper hopes to transform the agricultural workforce through training and sustainable practices. He warns of trends of Artificial Intelligence and machinery replacing humans in the sector, stating, "The current farm industry or the farm worker industry, the way that we know it, is being rapidly eliminated by ag technology and machinery. So the current workforce will be eliminated in the next 15 to 30 years."
"You see that right now the fieldwork—I don't know if you know—all the work is going to Arizona, to Yuma. There are not so many vegetables here in the Valley due to water issues," added Ruben Partida, Executive Director of Comité de Acción del Valle.
Read more at IVP