Poetic industrialism: Ethnicity, *environment and commercial horticulture in California's Pajaro Valley from the Progressive Era through the Great Depression

Today in California's Pajaro Valley, amid the prosperity of thriving horticultural enterprise, many live in poverty, toiling as farm laborers. The land is becoming impoverished as well; the astronomical productivity of the preceding century has threatened agricultural sustainability on many levels. It is typical of rural California. And yet, in the early 20th century, the Pajaro Valley appeared unique, sheltered from irrigation politics and spared the presence of large-scale agribusiness. Pajaronians, blessed with propitious geology and climate, hoped to secure profitable agriculture while cultivating a tight-knit farming community. But similar to other Californians, they embraced horticulture as the new mode of farming.;This thesis uses interviews, newspaper accounts, and government documents to argue that in the Pajaro Valley (near Santa Cruz, CA) the adoption of horticulture brought a social and ecological revolution. Planters saw in horticulture a chance to preserve their small-town farming way of life amid the contemporary currents of capitalist agriculture in California. But horticulture brought changes few foresaw.;Horticulture promised to revitalize farming in the U.S., making it into a modern, scientific endeavor. And there were additional benefits: the industry created a thriving economy that allowed for multicultural contribution, tempering local ethnic conflict. New advice on cultivation techniques not only increased yield and profits, but inspired a conservation ethic among local growers.;The act of practicing horticulture in a competitive, capitalist society, however, entailed certain social and ecological repercussions. While local agriculturalists enjoyed success, aggressive cultivation revealed the limits of their conservation interest. The push for profit led to debilitating soil erosion and agro-chemical dependency. Horticultural production created a social division between the community and the seasonal labor upon which growers also became dependent. Although ethnic conflicts were generally mild, racialized class conflicts were, at times, volatile.;The very nature of capitalist agriculture shaped the character of this community, and others like it, regardless of environmental conditions. Recognizing the potentially negative consequences of this mode of cultivation illuminates current social and ecological problems in rural regions, and how they are interconnected.