Lake County: Training for Vineyard Supervisors en Español

(Wines&Vines) - As many as 98% of California farmworkers are Spanish speakers, and most of their foremen and supervisors have risen from the ranks. Although supervisors are more likely to be bilingual, a large percentage of them remain most comfortable communicating in their native language. To bring professional management skills to these leaders in a way they can best appreciate, the Lake County Winegrape Commission (LCWC) will present Agricultural Labor Management—Cultivating Personnel Productivity, a two-day symposium Nov. 20-21, in Upper Lake, Calif.

Gregorio Billikopf, a Chilean native and labor-management farm advisor with the University of California since 1981, will lead the interactive event, which will be conducted entirely in Spanish. Billikopf is the author of “Labor Management in Agriculture: Cultivating Personnel Productivity,” which will be distributed to symposium attendees in either Spanish or English. He interacts frequently with farmworkers and agriculture business managers around the state.

In his introduction to the Lake County program, he wrote: “There is much that farmers do not have control over, and what they do control, they control through people. How these people are hired, managed and motivated makes a huge difference.

“Labor management is much more than forms and paperwork. It is more about finding creative new ways of increasing productivity and reducing loss. About 40% to 70% of costs in production agriculture are related to labor costs. Thus, it seems that effective management of these costs plays a vital role in the competitiveness of agricultural producers.”