FREE
VOL 4 ISSUE 2
APRIL 2019
CC BIKER & MOTORSPORTS
ALL OUR JOBS DEPEND ON AG
Gabi Macedo WRITER
Y
ou may have seen their stickers around town, since they are everywhere. The My Job Depends on AG group was initiated in May 2016 over a Facebook page, founded by Steve Malanca and Erik Wilson. It quickly gained recognition and in just a few weeks, the group had over 20,000 members. Now, a couple of years later, the group has over 84,000 members countrywide. The main goal behind the group is to gather those who are involved with agriculture to share stories and concerns as well as support each other and show to the rest of the community how important AG is for everyone.
The AG community is so big in everyone’s lives, yet many times people do not think about the importance of their work. All our jobs depend on AG; not only the farmers. We are free to do our jobs because someone else is growing and taking care of our food for us. I got the opportunity to meet with one of the co-founders, Steve Malanca, to discuss the challenges that AG faces. Quoting Steve, “The AG industry is there for all of us, it creates the opportunity for people to pursue a career of their choice”. It is not something we have to think about, but if it was and we needed to hunt and grow our own food, we would not be able to do the jobs that we have. With that in mind, ValleyPBS wanted to give the AG community the spotlight they so much deserve! Coming up this September, we will have an inside look in the AG industry as they release the show called American Grown: My Job Depends on AG. The show will give AG a voice, where they will be telling untold stories across the nation. “ValleyPBS is the perfect platform to impartially explore these issues and the thread that binds those seemingly unconnected jobs to an industry that drives so much of our economy”, said ValleyPBS CEO Jenny Toste. The episodes will air on Wednesday nights at 7:30 pm and it will also available online. While we wait for the show to air, I continued my conversation with Steve and I could see how excited
he is for all the farmers that work very hard every day, to have the recognition they deserve. As we discussed AG, we talked about how things changed over the years and how much it is still going to change. “The experts say that the average farmer globally will have to triple their production to keep up with the demand of food. AG is always going to be here, it is everywhere” said Steve, “it is just something that most people did not think about, but I believe as time goes on and how more people are concerned about where their food comes from, they will be more interested in AG”. Mike Stovall, assistant general manager
at Clawson, met with me to discuss the dealership’s support and he said, “With over 30% of our customers directly tied to agriculture, we know our jobs depend on AG. The Clawson Family of dealerships: Clawson Motorsports, Clawson Truck Center and Clawson Honda, are proud to be a part of this community that understands the importance of farming, and values the history of agriculture that built the valley we live in.” As our valley grew and changed over the years, technology played a big role in changing the way we do things to make farming easier. An example of putting technology to use is the government created “Agricultural Utility Terrain Vehicle Voucher Program”. This allows farmers to turn in their used gas or diesel powered UTV or ATV, and the state will give them a voucher of up to 75% of the cost of a brand-new electric vehicle. The voucher is only for new machines that have zero emission and that have the towing capacity between 500 and 700 lbs. “The
manufacturer made tremendous advances in their emission control with electric vehicles. Here in the Central Valley, we have had to deal with severe air quality issues, and the diesel engine manufacturer has done a wonderful job reducing their emissions,” said Steve Malanca. But electric vehicles (EV) have been a big game changer for farmers; the battery lasts long enough for a work day, it is quiet, and it does not have any gas emissions. Clawson Motorsports has been instrumental in working with Polaris to secure these high demand vehicles for our valley. Chris Horsford, Sales Manager with Clawson Motorsports, stated “The EV voucher is first come, first served, and because of that and the great demand, many people have already placed their deposit with Clawson in order to secure their vehicle, because of its unmatched performance.” In doing research for this article, I learned that Fresno County is the world’s most productive farmland with 1.88 million acres. The Central Valley is almost 450 miles long,
and it is larger than nine different states. John Smith, Sales Manager with Clawson Truck Center, understands the farmer’s needs, “We know the best way to travel this area is in a dependable, durable truck. That is why when we are building our inventory, we make certain that we have trucks that our farmers can rely on”. Valley farmers here are supporting 20% of all jobs in the Fresno area and contribute with more than $5.6 billion to the California economy. John continued by saying, “At Clawson Truck Center we value our community and you will often hear us say that Our Jobs Depend On Ag.” If you do not work on a farm, agriculture may not be something you really have to think about. You may not think about the challenges, or the hard work farmers do. We all buy the food and consume it without having to think about what had to be done to get the food to our tables. I am guilty of that. Having grown up in a big city, I have never stopped to think about the hard-working people on our farms. Living here in the valley, now all I can think is how thankful I am, that they provide my food so that way I can pursue my dreams and career. To all the farmers out there, thank you for everything you do for us!