Orlando Gil

The old story “Acres of Diamonds” told by Russell Conwell in the early 20th century, may ring true today when one considers the growth of the Latino population and our present and future needs for talent in Agriculture.

According to the story, an old farmer heard about rare diamonds that would give him wealth without limit. He sold his farm and went away and spent many years in search of these diamonds, never to find them. Finally, he gave up, threw himself into the sea and drowned… poor and destitute.

Back home, years later, the man that purchased the old farmer’s land found some “black stones” in a river stream one day… Long story short, the “black stones” ended up being “diamonds in the rough” and later, the old farm became one of the biggest diamond mines in the history of humankind. Right under his own feet, in his own land, the old farmer had acres and acres of diamonds. And so the story goes…

What does this have to do with Latinos and the present and future needs for talent in Agriculture? Do Latinos represent “acres of diamonds” when it comes to future leadership in Agriculture?

If I get the moral of the story right, right here, right now we have an emerging demographic that can represent the leaders of tomorrow.With over 50 million Latinos in the U.S and the numbers projected to be over 30% of the total population by 2050, Latinos represent “acres of diamonds” to Agriculture.

With the age of the average farmer increasing, and individuals starting to retire, there is a gap of talent in the future of Agriculture and Latinos could potentially fill that gap.   

This growth in population and these numbers represent a market... a potential market for Agriculture. A market of present and future employees, consumers, employers and “agvocates”.

But, we need to proactively approach this population. We need to realize that Latinos represent more than lettuce pickers and illegal aliens. Nothing wrong with picking lettuce, in fact we may even be the best ones at that! Media and politics are playing a large part in influencing how we view this segment of the population.

Maybe it is time to seize the opportunity Latinos represent to Agriculture.

I thank you for reading, and for your comments.
Orlando Gil
TCTS Global, LLC

"Helping Bridge the Gap with Latino Talent in the Agricultural and Food Industries"
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Coming later this year, TCTS Global in partnership with AgForLife LLC, will be hosting "Latinos in Agriculture; a Leadership Forum on Capitalizing Hispanic Talent". The goal of the event is to provide a workshop to connect industry, government, and education for transforming the agricultural workforce of the future.

When you consider that the Hispanic population is projected to grow to over 30% of the total of the U.S. population by 2050 – U.S. Census Bureau, one might agree that this may offer a window of opportunity for Agriculture. These demographic changes bring with them opportunities to tap into this emerging market to build a future pipeline of students, employees, employers, and ultimately consumers of our agricultural products and services.

The workshop aims to help stakeholders to take deliberate approaches in improving the Latino/Hispanic representation in the Agricultural and Food related Industries. In addition, it will explore ways on how to inform and persuade industry, government, and academia of the huge potential Latinos can represent to Agriculture.

If our Agricultural and Food industries are to be sustainable and maintain its dominance in world markets, Hispanic leadership and involvement must be part of the formula. This is what "Latinos in Agriculture, A Leadership Forum on Capitalizing Hispanic Talent" expects to achieve by holding this event.

You can find out more about the upcoming event to be held in San Antonio, Texas later this year, by joining the "Latinos in Agriculture" Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/LatinosInAgriculture . For those of you on Twitter, you can follow our tweets by following @latinosinag.

We look forward to seeing you in San Antonio and working with you in building Latino/Hispanic representation in the future of Agriculture!

I thank you for reading, and for your comments.

Orlando Gil
TCTS Global LLC
"Helping Bridge the Gap with Latino Talent in the Agricultural and Food Industries"
translat@mtcnet.net

When you look at efforts from just about every industry in the United States trying to tap into the emerging Latino market, one has to wonder when Animal Rights Activists will follow suit.

Companies are investing millions of dollars trying to reach this segment of the population. With some estimates putting Latino purchasing power at more than a trillion dollars, it just makes sense that companies would invest money and resources in this growing demographic.

Latinos are the largest and youngest minority group in the United States. According to data from the Pew Hispanic Center, by 2020, about 25% of all US children will be Latino. By 2025, 1 out of every two persons entering the workforce will also be Latino. The implications of these demographic changes will certainly influence how companies will conduct business in the very near future.

A study done at the Social Work Department of the University of New Hampshire by Jerry D. Marx in 2008 indicated that Latinos were eight times more likely to donate to human service organizations when using payroll deduction. In addition, Latinos who were solicited for donations over the phone were twice as likely to donate to educational organizations as Latino donors not solicited by phone. This could mean an opportunity for organizations funded by private donations to sustain their activist agendas.

What has been done by leading animal rights organizations to reach out to this market? Not a lot as far as I can tell. The HSUS does have a publication in Spanish available at one of their websites – “Spanish 101 for Staff at Animal Shelters”, but other than that, not much else I could find.

However, back in 2008, PETA (which is funded by HSUS according to an IRS disclosure on their website) made unsuccessful attempts to buy ads from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency to be placed at each of the nine southwest border sectors, apparently without success. Nonetheless, it seems they are aware of this population segment to market their messages. If ads had been approved, then those considering entry into the United States would have read this message: "If the border patrol doesn't get you, the chicken and burgers will. Go vegan" (or, in Spanish, "Si no te agarra la migra, te atraparán el pollo y las hamburguesas. Sé vegano").

Then, just recently, PETA again proposed to help the U.S. Custom and Border Protection agency secure the border by providing funds if they were allowed to hang their "Say No to Pot (Roast)" signs on the border.

Are Latinos a ground-floor opportunity for Animal Rights Activists? Time will only tell, but as someone might say, those who get there first, may get the first pickings!

I thank you for reading, and for your comments.

Orlando Gil TCTS LLC

Training Connections-Translation Services

“Helping Bridge the Gap with the Latino Workforce in the Ag & Food Industries”

translat@mtcnet.net

Friday, April 23, 2010 was a day that will be remembered by many. On this day, Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer, signed into law bill SB 1070 – “Immigration; Law Enforcement; Safe Neighborhoods”.

While the controversial law (which goes into effect sometime this summer) is written to require that lawful contact be made, law enforcement officers might stop any person with reasonable suspicion of being illegal and ask about their immigration status. If the person cannot produce documentation that would validate their legal status, they would be arrested.

Some are concerned that the Arizona law promotes racial profiling and division in communities. Others feel this was a necessary step to control the immigration problem in the state. Arizona, with an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants has the busiest stretch of illegal crossings in the country.

The Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, Alessandra Soler Meetze, commented: "By signing this bill into law, Brewer has just authorized violating the rights of millions of people living and working here. She has just given every police agency in Arizona a mandate to harass anyone who looks or sounds foreign, while doing nothing to address the real problems we're facing."

President Obama has asked the Justice Department to investigate possible civil rights implications as he felt the law threatens to "undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe…"

At the signing of the law, Governor Brewer, acknowledging the law being highly controversial, stated, “We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act”.

There is talk now in Washington to make immigration reform a priority both in the Senate and in the House.

Will Immigration Reform still happen this year? It might… One thing is for sure though; this debate will most probably continue to bring the best and the worst out in each of us.

No matter what happens, our summer vacation plans may not include Arizona this year… You know, I wouldn’t want to be stopped “while driving brown…”

I thank you for reading, and for your comments.

Orlando Gil
TCTS
Training Connections-Translation Services
“Helping Bridge the Gap with The Latino Workforce in the Agricultural Industry”

translat@mtcnet.net

The 2010 Census – Helping Your Community by Helping Latinos Be Counted …

I just received a letter from Robert Groves, Director for the U.S. Census Bureau. The letter was to let me know my census form was on its way and that the results from the 2010 Census will be used to help each community get its fair share of government funding for highways, schools, health facilities, and many other programs (estimated in 400 billion dollars of government funds).

Census results would also determine how many seats each state is to have in the House of Representatives. My response was important, as it has been the response of every citizen and non-citizen since 1790 when it was first mandated by the Constitution. Yes, the Census is supposed to count every person living in the U.S.

At the bottom of the letter, there were instructions for websites in five other languages on how to get help in filling out the census form when it arrived if your native language were not English. Since I have a computer and can read the English instructions, I followed the drop-down menu of 58 different languages until I found Spanish…

Impressive… a well translated site that is easy to follow with lots of information. I only wondered how many Latinos do have access to a computer. Especially, Latinos working in Agricultural related industries where the significant majority has a limited education, much less a computer. Granted, some do have computers and are definitely following in the trend of Latinos becoming a strong presence in online communities, but in general, this segment of the population would probably get this information by other means. Only residents in cities with a high concentration of Latinos would get bilingual Census forms sent to them.

In an article published by Hispanic Business Magazine in January 2010 - “Census Budget Bigger than Ever, but Officials Predict a Miscount”, the Census Bureau reports the 2000 count missed 1 percent of the population.
Kenneth Prewitt, Head of the U.S. Census estimates the miscount to be bigger than that and predicts the 2010 Census count will miss even more people. According to Mr. Prewitt, this is largely due to the skyrocketing immigrant population, which shot up from 8 million in 2000 to an estimated 12 million in 2008. “That’s a hard population to count”, he said. “They have every reason to be suspicious of the government with the raids and so forth”.

To add to the challenge of an accurate count, a national coalition of Latino evangelical clergy members has been sending out the message to boycott the Census if congress does not pass an immigration reform very soon. They are telling Latinos to not respond to the questionnaire, to not be counted.

What can we do to help in making sure everyone in our communities is counted?

Spread the word about the 2010 Census. Tell your Latino employees about their right to privacy and how important their response is. Tell them that it is safe to fill out the form and that it is important to be counted.

Tell them to tell their friends about the 2010 Census. It is important to all of us.

Let us spread the word and help our communities by helping Latinos be counted in the 2010 Census!

For more information about the 2010 Census go to www.2010.Census.gov

I thank you for reading and for your comments.

Orlando Gil
TCTS
Training Connections-Translation Services
“Helping Bridge the Gap with The Latino Workforce in the Agricultural Industry”
translat@mtcnet.net

"We are in America, %@$@ it, they should speak English!!!"

This is what a farm manager told me sometime ago as he complained about his newly hired Latino employees speaking Spanish at work and him and other employees not being able to understand what they were saying…

"If they want to speak Spanish, he continued, they can do that at home, not here. When they are at work, they should speak English, English, English!!!"

He told me this in a very demanding tone. I guess he thought that if he were demanding enough the situation would change.

Easier said than done, I thought…

This manager worked for a company that had turned to the available Latino workforce as an option to fill the jobs it couldn’t fill with native U.S. workers. This, of course, brought with it a new set of challenges.

According to the 2007 American Survey Report, the Foreign-Labor Force in the United States makes up about 16% of the total labor force. In lower wage industries, non-citizens often make up the majority of this labor.

In the Agricultural industry, foreign workers make up about 25.8% of the total labor force with non-citizens making up the majority of that labor (22%). In addition, the report cites that only about 11% of non-citizens were more likely to speak only English very well or speak English and another language at home. In other words, a small percentage of these workers can communicate in the English language.

According to the US Census Bureau, the number of U.S. residents that cannot speak English fluently has more than double since 1980. To some businesses, this has raised the question of the legality of the "English Only" policies for employees.

In its Compliance Manual, The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) states that businesses can enforce "English Only" rules under certain conditions for business necessity. However, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, "English Only" policies cannot affect only employees of a certain race or national origin and employers are under the obligation to protect employees from being discriminated against or from harassment because of their national origin (EEOC Compliance Manual). Employers violating these laws could be subject to costly fines. If your operation is considering an "English Only" policy, you may want to consult with a legal firm to protect you from possible discrimination claims.

In my personal experience, the companies that have been successful in dealing with these challenges have been the ones that have taken a proactive and a more "accommodating" type of approach when dealing with this issue. It’s easier to teach your Latino employees some English and have managers learn a little Spanish than to try to get the job done when you are short-handed…

I thank you for reading and for your comments.

Orlando Gil
Training Connections-Translation Services
"Helping Bridge the Gap with The Latino Workforce in the Agricultural Industry"
translat@mtcnet.net

That Latino employee that nods his head up and down and says: “Yes, yes, I understand…” may not really understand what is being said and that can be a real problem for your operation. 

So what’s the big deal, you might ask? 

If it has to do with bringing out the wrong cow to be bred or feeding that extra pound of feed to the wrong group of sows, or reporting to work on the wrong day, it can be annoying and disrupting to be sure, but something that most probably could be addressed with no major consequences.  

But, what if it has to do with something a little more serious like using the wrong dosage of medication when treating animals, or moving the wrong pen of animals to be slaughtered, possibly compromising food safety? What if the mistake is even more serious?  Serious to the degree, that it could potentially be fatal?

What then? 

According to a recent report from the National Council of La Raza http://www.nclr.org, Latino workers are more likely to die from an injury at work than White and African American workers. In 2007, 937 Latino workers were fatally injured while at work.  

The occupational fatality rate for Latinos has remained the highest in the nation for the last 15 years. The NCLR report notes that the Latino worker death rate - 4.6 for every 100,000 workers – is higher than the fatality rate in the US and in many third world countries.  

Understanding that a lack of language and communication skills could contribute to these fatal statistics, what can employers and managers do to help ensure that effective communication takes place and that safety procedures are followed?    

• Realize that miscommunication happens all too often and it can happen at any time and in any language
• Make safety a priority in your operation. Communicate clear expectations to your employees and monitor that these are followed
• When training, ask the employee to show you or try to tell you what they learned during the training session. Specifically, ask the employee to explain the safety hazards involved
• Avoid closed ended questions that would result in “yes” or “no” answers. Instead, use open-ended questions that require the employee to explain the procedure. Questions that start with “what, why and how” work well for this purpose
• Having translated documents or using an interpreter when dealing with a multicultural workforce can certainly be a plus, but not enough to ensure total understanding. Observing and monitoring employees while they perform procedures will reveal their level of understanding and how effective you were as a communicator. Their actions will show you how well trained they are 

For yours and your employees’ sake, please beware of the Latino employee that nods his head up and down and says: “Yes, yes, I understand”. Maybe he doesn’t, and that can be a real problem for you, your employees and your operation.

I thank you for reading, and for your comments. 

Orlando Gil

Training Connections-Translation Services

“Helping Bridge the Gap with The Latino Workforce in the Agricultural Industry”

translat@mtcnet.net 

This is a question that sometimes comes up when discussing the opportunities and challenges of having Spanish-speaking employees in agricultural operations. Often, the perception is that if you don’t know the language, it can be pretty hard to train these individuals to do what you need them to do. Knowing the language helps, but this by itself, won’t guarantee success when training your Spanish-speaking employees.

Sometimes, training is delegated to someone who may be bilingual, but may not have the skills or abilities to train. Other times, we are so busy getting things done, that we run out of time to do the training and when we get to it, we approach it without a well thought-out and organized training plan. Training should be viewed as an investment that will return employees that produce results with consistent quality and will help in your retention efforts.

Assuming that you have a training plan, the training skills and the time to conduct the training, what are some of the things to keep in mind if you don’t know the language and want to train your Spanish-speaking employees?

Here are some suggestions.

Have specific procedures and protocols in place.

We may not know the language well enough to understand every detail, but we will follow along as you show us consistent procedures that we can learn by repetition.

Talk to us in English.

We realize that we are in the USA and learning English is key to our success. We want to be a part of your team and when you talk to us in English it will motivate us to continue learning the language. In addition, as we learn new words, these will become part of the vocabulary we use to communicate in your operation.

Use clear and specific terms when you talk to us.

Stay away from ambiguous terms. For example, "let’s plan on having a Pow Wow about this issue…" will be hard for some of us to understand.

Have protocols and procedures available in Spanish.

For those of us that may not be bilingual, having translated documents will help in understanding the details of the procedures we are being trained on.

Learn some Spanish.

Try to learn some Spanish if you haven’t started already. Besides helping to better communicate with your Spanish-speaking employees, it will open a new world with new experiences to be explored. You don’t have to be 100% fluent in the language to be able to communicate. Key words and phrases will help you get the point across.

Stay away from comments or phrases that may be misunderstood.

When someone says "Arriba, Arriba ,Arriba" or "Ándale, Ándale, Ándale", we may not get it. Most of us did not grow up watching Speedy Gonzalez and to some, it may sound offensive...

Training employees that may not understand the English language can be a challenge, but it also can be a fun and rewarding experience.

Please let me know about your experiences in training a multicultural workforce and how you have dealt with some of the challenges that do come up as you train Spanish-speaking employees.

I thank you for reading, and for your comments.

Is Latino Labor in the Agricultural Industry a Thing of the Past? This past June I had the opportunity to address pork producers at the World Pork Expo (audio and slides). At that time, the key message of my presentation had to do with the idea that producers no longer had to worry about finding workers to get the job done at their farms.

Perhaps a sign of relief; at least something producers did not have to worry about during these turbulent times… It made sense… When you considered the high unemployment rates prevalent for several months and the number of displaced workers willing to do just about any type of job, most producers had a lot more job applications to choose from and fewer jobs to fill as employees “stayed put” waiting for the recession storm to go by.

If you follow that line of thought and then think of the challenges facing the Latino worker, one has to wonder if Latino labor in the agricultural industries is truly a thing of the past. I know of many Latinos struggling to find employment or to keep their jobs during this recession. In my opinion, this may be due to several factors:

• The widespread use of E-Verify and internal audits done by companies
• The lack of skills in the English language makes it harder to get hired as we are competing for fewer jobs, and
• A somewhat unassertive attitude when it comes to showing the value we may add to an enterprise

It is exciting to see new talent wanting to enter our industry even if it is due to harsh economic conditions. I believe it gives agricultural related industries the opportunity to highlight the great career opportunities available. Hopefully, a few will decide to stay if we do the right things to retain them.

However, I also believe that based on the demographic trends we are seeing in the USA, the emerging Latino population is a very viable option for staffing our agricultural operations. The Latino workforce will play a very important part in the future of agriculture in this great nation. We have the opportunity to recruit, train and retain young talent that we can turn into future leaders of our industry.

What do you think about the future of the Latino workforce in agricultural related industries? Is it a thing of the past, or is it here to stay and for us all to benefit from it? I look forward to your comments. I thank Truffle Media Networks for the opportunity to share and I thank you, for reading.

Orlando Gil
"Helping Bridge the Gap with the Latino Workforce in Agricultural Related Industries"
translat@mtcnet.net