Portuguese Agriculture

The history of the Portuguese in California is an integral part of the history of this State. The Portuguese, mainly Azoreans, began arriving in the 1800s attracted by the search for gold, often as a result of being crewmembers on American whaling ships. They brought with them not only their traditions, but also an intense desire to succeed in this land of opportunity.

Portuguese immigrants in California have distinguished themselves as farmers and dairymen. They differed significantly from their Portuguese counterparts elsewhere in the United States by choosing agriculture as their major occupation. Their economic contribution to the prosperity of the dairy and farming industries is unquestionable.

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Today, people of Portuguese origin and descent own and operate almost 50% of all dairies in the State of California and more than 60% of all dairies in the San Joaquin Valley. About 1 out of every 11 glasses of milk produced in the United States annually comes from the 980-plus "Portuguese-owned" dairy farms. The dollar value of the agricultural output of California's Portuguese farmers and dairymen easily exceeds 10 billion dollars annually.

During the last half of the 20th Century, the Portuguese have been important leaders at the regional, state and national levels on the policies and politics of dairy production, processing and marketing in California. They helped make milk the number one commodity in California agriculture in 2000.

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Currently, approximately 90% of all "Portuguese-owned" dairy farms in California are concentrated in the San Joaquin Valley. In the 10 communities of Tulare, Turlock, Hanford, Modesto, Merced, Hilmar, Gustine, Tipton, Los Banos and Escalon the Portuguese own and operate the great majority of all dairy farms. Even today, in these areas, most adult Portuguese either live or were raised on a dairy or have parents or grand parents that were raised on a dairy.

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Perhaps this is the reason that U.C. Berkeley's internationally-renowned Professor of Geography, James J. Parsons remarked in 1987 that: No ethnic group [in the San Joaquin Valley] is more closely tied to one industry than the Portuguese. Dairying is largely in the hands of Portuguese from the Azores and their descendants... Back