“English for Agriculture” is an English language program for farmworkers that provides agriculture operations with onsite or virtual English training sessions specifically designed for agriculture settings. Students learn English skills related to farm operations, employee safety, hygiene and food safety, team leadership and communication.
The California Farm Bureau and Farm Employers Labor Service have partnered with the National Immigration Forum, which hosts the English Advance program, to make funding available for agricultural operations interested in providing English language training. Growers interested in taking advantage of this funding and offering the English for Agriculture training at no charge should contact Ana Negoescu, Assistant Vice President of Workforce Advance at the National Immigration Forum, at [email protected] as soon as possible — no later than February 6.
English Advance will assist growers in planning the training sessions, which must be completed by April 1 to take advantage of the funding. Training sessions can be delivered in person at the work site or virtually. If growers choose onsite training, all employees taking part in the lessons must attend at the same site. If that is not possible, growers can opt for virtual training sessions. If multiple growers are partnering to build a training cohort together, virtual training is recommended to accommodate various geographic locations.
The program provides 45 hours of training for the cohort including the in-person or virtual training sessions, as well as digital learning. Training beginning in February would run 8 or 6 weeks, with 2- or 2.5-hour class sessions each week and 2 or 2.5 hours of digital learning.
To participate, training employers must:
- Compensate employees for training – participants must be immigrants, refugees and other English learners residing in California, who work a minimum of 28 hours and earn a minimum wage of $15.50/hour.
- Build a cohort of 15 - 20 employees to participate in the training (growers can partner to build a cohort)
- Report participant demographic, wage, and job retention data at 90-day mark.
- Be in a priority industry (agriculture) and have a turnover rate of 20% or less.
Forum’s team provides the college or adult school instructor, full classroom curriculum, online learning and implementation support. They also provide support for the English language trainees throughout the training sessions.