Gregorio Billikopf Encina

Agricultural personnel management farm advisor

Stanislaus County UC Cooperative Extension

One thing Gregorio Billikopf said he has learned in more than 25 years of working with California farmworkers, the majority of whom hail from Mexico, is that people of all ethnic and minority groups are more the same than different.

"We often hear about cultural differences," he said. "Of course there are some; people vary no matter which group you are in. But sometimes when people make sweeping distinctions, these are biases that people have themselves."

Billikopf, whose own heritage varies widely, should know. His Jewish-Lithuanian great-grandfather was a celebrated civil rights attorney in New York City in the late 1800s and among the first to defend the rights of African Americans and Jews in the U.S. Billikopf traces Chilean roots on his mother's side of the family.

At age 13, Billikopf came to the United States from Chile with his parents, and stayed for college when they returned to their homeland. He earned a bachelor's degree in plant science and a master's degree in industrial psychology at UC Davis. In 1981, he began his work with farm employers and farmworkers in the San Joaquin Valley as an agricultural personnel farm advisor for UC Cooperative Extension.

"Over the years, I have earned the trust of both the farm owners and farmworkers," he said. "My father was a farm owner, so I can understand the needs of farm owners and operators. And I can communicate with farmworkers in their own tongue. They consider me one of their own."

Billikopf has produced numerous resources in Spanish and English on such labor management topics as employee compensation, recruitment, retention and supervision. He conducted research and published a book on managing workplace conflict. Recently, Billikopf created a Web site with free Spanish-language audio downloads and agriculturally related vocabulary to help English speakers enhance their Spanish language skills.