PLANT CITY, Fla. — Migrant farm workers toil under the hot Florida sun year-round. Working as a picker is not an easy job. But, one family broke a generations-old cycle of hard labor and now owns and operates a strawberry farm.
The Gutierrez family is the quintessential example of what hard work, dedication and love can build.
Lorena Gutierrez and her husband Elias met as pickers on a strawberry farm. Lorena's parents were migrant workers, along with their parents before them. The same was true for Elias' family. Today they are a strawberry grower for Wish Farms, employing 50 domestic workers and bringing in seasonal workers from Mexico.
"We started with an acre, and my husband and I planted it and picked it," Lorena Gutierrez said.
The couple worked that single acre full of strawberries day and night to harvest that first crop.
A single acre 25 years ago has now grown to over 400. And Lorena said running the Gutierrez Family Farms from the perspective of a picker has helped her business grow.
"Well, in a way, it makes it easy because you learn how to understand the workers that are out there. You learn how to understand them that when they're working, you've been there, you know, so and we love when we do we love the outdoors," Lorena Gutierrez said. "We love nature, you know, and we love being out there. But, as you said, it is hard work. Farming it's like a gamble. You know, you might do good this year, and next year you might not. So you must try your best, understand, and do whatever is sent to you and make it work."
"How important is farming to Hispanic heritage?" Paluska asked Lorena Gutierrez.
"I would say a whole lot," Lorena Gutierrez said. "For us, since my husband came from doing agricultural in Mexico and my parents."
"Los hispanos venemos a trabajar," Elias Gutierrez told Paluska in Spanish.
"Hispanics came to the United States to work, to give the best of ourselves in our work," Elias Gutierrez continued.
Elias Gutierrez said he wanted to give his children a better life. They all learned how to work the land but are also studying and going to college. He stressed that family unity is the most important thing for them.
"How important is it for Americans to understand the Hispanic culture and the connection with food and the land?" Paluska asked.
"I guess I would want them to understand that not all Hispanics just stay where they are," Lorena Gutierrez said. Where they are only picking, but they start growing. And we are out here to do something, you know, to become a better person and be someone and help others, you know, which is important."
