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Home / Washington Business - January/February 2008 / Profile: Jorge Morado: Nursery Manager, Sakuma Brothers Farms |
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Profile: Jorge Morado: Nursery Manager, Sakuma Brothers Farms |
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Written On: January/February 2008 |
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Written By: by Danielle Rhéaume |
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When Jorge "George" Morado first arrived in Burlington, Wash., with his family in 1991, he was just 17-years-old. At the time, he couldn't have predicted how his relationships and responsibilities at Sakuma Brothers farm would grow and develop over time.
Jorge's family had long ancestral ties to Texas and the migrant way of life, which meant leaving the sunny South from May until October of every year to work the harvest in other parts of the country. Moving often meant leaving family and friends behind, living in worker camps, and adjusting to other conditions — like the Skagit Valley's cool maritime climate.
The migrant way of life — which included working through the summer — made school challenging for Jorge and other migrant children. "It seemed like we were in school year-round, because we were always trying to catch up," said Jorge. "Every time we started a new school or returned to our old school, we were always behind!"
Jorge's first job when he got to Sakuma Brothers was in the greenhouse, where he worked with berry clones. This involved the tedious and labor-intensive separation and replanting of berry plant starts. As Jorge's family returned to the Sakuma Brothers Farm each year, he continued to work in the greenhouse, learning more and more. In 1996, when he was just 22 years old, the retiring greenhouse manager recommended to Steve Sakuma that Jorge take over the greenhouse manager position.
For Jorge, being greenhouse manager meant abandoning the migrant way of life and staying in Burlington year-round. While this presented him with a permanent place to live and work, Jorge would have to let go of his hometown life with his extended family and friends in Mercedes, Texas.
Still, he decided to make a permanent home on the farm and take the Sakumas up on their offer, which also included paid books and tuition to Skagit Valley College where he enrolled in their Agricultural Studies program. "Steve Sakuma told me that I needed to get a college education," remembered Jorge.
The program was exactly what Jorge hoped it would be. "After the first soil class, I was hooked!" he said. He then went on to study plant tissue culture, or micropropagation, as it is also known.
Now, 12 years after taking over the greenhouse manager position, and 17 years after first setting foot on the Sakuma Brothers farm, Jorge oversees about 30,000 square feet of greenhouse and nursery space as nursery manager.
The Sakuma Brothers' micropropagated plants not only turn out consistently fruitful harvests, but they also increase the farm's revenue tremendously, given that about 90 to 95 percent of their greenhouse plants are sold and shipped to farms all over the United States and into British Columbia, Canada. In recent years, their sales have skyrocketed, according to Jorge, "Last year we sold 800,000, and this year we are expecting to sell 1.2 million!"
Jorge also works with Washington State University, as well as other domestic and international universities, on further development of their nursery stock so they can continue to produce quality fruit with competitive yields.
As the father of two girls ages six and 10, Jorge manages to carry on the family tradition of agricultural work while keeping his daughters out of the academically stressful migrant lifestyle. Thanks to the support of Sakuma Brothers, Jorge is just two classes away from earning his college degree, which he has been tackling one class at a time while working full-time.
Just like the plants he proudly and successfully grows, Jorge's roots have grown deep into the soil of Washington and the Sakuma Brothers farm.
SIDEBAR - Micropropagation
Micropropagation, or tissue culture, is a practice used to propagate and produce plant clones under sterile, highly controlled conditions. It allows farmers to grow clones of plants with desirable traits — like thornless blackberry vines. While this might sound like new technology, some European grape cultivators have grown micropropagated vines for more than 2,000 years.
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