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Julian Araujo's work with the United Farm Workers Foundation in Lompoc highlighted by Los Angeles Times

California's Central Coast boasts some of the most fertile farmland in the world, rich brown soil that produces a bounty of asparagus, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, artichokes, cabbage, kale and Brussels sprouts.

But getting that green gold out of the ground is exhausting, backbreaking work - something Julian Araujo learned at a young age. His father, Jorge, had followed his parents and brothers from Mexico into the farm fields around Lompoc when he was 15, picking the food that would fill other people's dinner plates while barely earning enough to fill his own.

"Coming from a family of farmworkers, I was made aware at an early age of the hard work and the harsh conditions that the farmworkers experienced every day," Julian said.