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First-Ever Latino Farmer Symposium Held At Southwest Agriculture Summit

The Southwest Agriculture Summit is back at Arizona Western College in Yuma this week. For the first time, organizers hosted a Latino Farmer Symposium on Wednesday.

Session topics included finance and assistance programs for socially disadvantaged farmers, technology for crop production and food safety.

“This is very important to have this Latino farmer conference in Yuma because all this region that we share with California and Mexico shares all the history and heritage of the Hispanic people, people in farming and so on," said Dr. Jairo Diaz, a director at the University of California Desert Research and Extension Center in El Centro. "It’s so important to work with these Latino farmers too.”

Enrique Quiroz recently started working at his family’s cotton farm, Rancho Quiroz, in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico. He said wants to learn as much as possible from ag industry leaders.

“I’m here today because I thought it would be a good place to network and make opportunities here,” Quiroz said.

The summit includes breakout sessions and the annual Harvest Dinner on Thursday and an ag tour on Friday.

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Stay tuned to KAWC for more coverage from this year's Southwest Ag Summit.

Victor is originally from West Sacramento, California and has lived in Arizona for more than five years. He began his print journalism career in 2004 following his graduation from Georgetown University in Washington D.C. Victor has been a reporter for the following daily newspapers: The Monterey County Herald, The Salinas Californian and the Reno Gazette-Journal, where he covered stories including agriculture, education and Latino community news. Victor has also served as a local editor for Patch, a national news organization with hyperlocal websites, in Carmichael, California in the Sacramento area. He also served as the editor for The New Vision, the newspaper for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson, which includes Yuma and La Paz counties. Victor lives in Somerton. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends and following most sports.
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