Mauricio Gonzalez, owner of Gonzalez-Huerta Organics, has over 25 years of combined experience working in agriculture in the Salinas Valley, where he was a strawberry picker and then a foreman. In 2017, he decided to take the next step in his farming career by participating in ALBA’s Programa Educativo para Agricultores (PEPA) program, a comprehensive training program empowering farmworkers to transition into successful organic farmers.
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After a few years of learning and continuous work in the fields, he started his farming career in 2021, growing diversified organic vegetables such as celery, parsley, broccolini, snap peas, fennel, and green beans. He partnered with Coke Farm as their distributor. He was approved for an operating loan with California FarmLink in 2022 to cover expenses such as job creation, seeds/plants, and farming inputs. With weather storms and flooding from the end of 2022, early 2023, that pushed him to relocate to new land located in Chualar.
In 2023, California FarmLink provided another operating loan to cover initial rental payment, supplies, plants, labor and other expenses. The new loan allowed Mauricio to get back on his feet, grow his business, and to save money to become self-sustainable.
Mauricio also participated in FarmLink’s Resilerador course to expand his business knowledge.
“Every season brings new challenges, but also new lessons. With the right support and perseverance, I’ve been able to grow my business and move closer to becoming self-sustainable.”
– Mauricio Gonzalez, Gonzalez-Huerta Organics
