Understanding Hmong Growers' Livelihood Strategies in Sacramento: Implications for Agriculture Education Outreach

The farming landscape in California is changing as more and more minority farmers take up farming as a major source of household income. In response to this shift, there have been attempts by governmental agencies, non-profits and Universities to provide assistance to these farmers through minority farmer training programs and loans. In northern California, much of this attention has fallen on Southeast-Asian growers, a group that is comprised of immigrants from Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Using data from semi-structured interviews this thesis will focus on the attempts at outreach and training for Hmong growers in Sacramento County. Using the Hmong farmers of Sacramento as a case study, I argue that in order to be effective, agricultural education for minority growers must take into account the cultural and practical livelihood strategies and foodways of these growers. My thesis will pursue these ends by examining the production and consumption practices of Hmong farmers in Sacramento and the current training approaches for Hmong farmers in the Sacramento region. The data suggests that Hmong livelihood strategies are changing to meet farmers' market demands and that in order to be more applicable to the shifting livelihood strategies of Hmong growers, agriculture trainings in Sacramento need to be more tangible, more long term and involve more members of the Hmong farming community in the planning and facilitation of these training.