Meet the Farmer

Rudy Jimenez grew up in the farming community of East Salinas, the child of a farmworker; his father, Rodolfo, migrated to the US at the age of 15 and spent the next few decades working for conventional growers in the valley. Rudy was inspired to launch Green Thumb Farms by his father’s experiences as a farmworker and a childhood spent in one of the most bountiful yet food insecure communities in the US. His mission is to educate eaters in Salinas and across the Bay Area about where their food comes from, and above all to help youth in his hometown see career paths for themselves within agriculture through partnerships with local nonprofits like Urban Arts Collaborative.  

Rudy joined Kitchen Table Advisors in 2016, as a recent graduate from the Farmer Education Program (PEPA) at Agriculture & Land-Based Training Association (ALBA). His goal upon joining the advising program was to secure new farmland, and hire the farm’s first employees to support his father with production and help him at the farmers’ markets.