Semillero de Ideas centers farmworkers as the leaders of innovation in agriculture.

We create safe spaces for farmworkers to share their knowledge, experience and insights about how to address issues from workplace challenges to climate change.

“Semillero de Ideas’ approach… elevates farmworkers as key contributors to productivity and competitiveness.”

– Enrique Gastelum
Chief Executive Officer, Worker and Farm Labor Association

Semillero collaborates with organizations, industry partners, and local governments interested in addressing climate change, fostering innovation, and advancing sustainable production processes.

Learn about how farmworkers are co-creating with university students

Challenges

We know that farm workers are and always will be the experts in farm work.

To encourage their creativity, we have designed activities where farm workers can develop their ideas about their work in the fields and have a voice in how working conditions can be improved using those ideas. In recent years, we have held an Innovation Challenge called Your Ideas Count.

How we do it

Semillero collaborates with organizations, industry partners, and local governments interested in addressing climate change, fostering innovation, and advancing sustainable production processes.

Our story

At Semillero de Ideas, we were founded on a simple yet powerful truth: farmworkers hold the key to innovative solutions for the future of agriculture.

Our journey began with our co-founder, Josefina Luciano, an experienced farmworker and innovator.

News and publications

Semillero de ideas in the Media

Our initiatives and the voices of agricultural workers have been featured in major publications and media outlets.

May/01/2024

Nonprofit center cultivating innovation with ag workforce

Fruit worker aims to patent picking harness with help of new nonprofit.

Ago/10/2023

Farmworker receives award for cherry picking innovation

When Luis Alejandro Barrera picked cherries, the straps on the harness holding the bucket would cut into his shoulders after a few hours.

Ago/29/2023

How can farm work be more efficient? Ask a farmworker

I believe we are looking for answers to the labor shortage in agriculture and ideas for technology in faraway places and asking the wrong people, writes the author.

Jan/23/2023

Op-ed: Want an Agtech Revolution? Center Farmworkers’ Expertise

Although agtech promises to make farming more efficient, it is often pitched as a replacement for farmworkers, who are usually left out of its development.

PDF

Impacts of Climate Change
on Farmworkers in Eastern
Washington

Climate change is impacting Washington state farmworkers in a variety of previously unreported ways.

May/28/2024

New nonprofit helps farmworker with idea for cherry picking harness

Luis Alejandro Barrera has spent most of the past six years working on orchards in Washington.

Sep(26/2024

Semillero de Ideas invita a trabajadores agrícolas al Desafío de la Manzana 2024

La organización sin fines de lucro, Semillero de Ideas, lanza una vez más su programa anual "Tus ideas importan.

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Si eres trabajador agrícola y te gustaría ponerte en contacto con nuestro equipo