Elias Aceves is an emergent organizer and researcher specializing in farmworker rights, food systems equity, and land access issues across California. Born in San Diego and raised in the Inland Empire, Elias received his BA in Philosophy and MA in Latin American Studies from Stanford, specializing in the political economy of agriculture and indigenous-peasant politics in Latin America.
Aceves brings a deeply personal perspective to his work, having witnessed the displacement of residential-agricultural communities in the Inland Empire due to warehouse development, and drawing inspiration from his grandmother’s experience as a flower farmworker in San Diego County. This informs his focus on increasing land access for farmworkers, transitioning value chain ownership to low-income food system workers and community members, and ensuring that land use and development decisions are guided by affected communities rather than external forces.
He sees the issues affecting our rural communities to be part of a broader territorial struggle for local communities to steward their economies and food systems. He places the struggle for indigenous territorial restitution, agrarian reform, urban housing reform, and territorial market development as key components of this broader territorial struggle for food sovereignty.
As the Food Systems Network Coordinator at SBCFAN, he is excited to facilitate collaboration between network partners and community members. Whether that entails following-up from meetings, managing internal administrative tasks, connecting institutions & producers, and identifying new partnerships for emergent and/or on-going projects, he sees this work as vital to weave the fabric of our network to continue remaining robust and actionable in its orientation. He admires how the Central Coast refuses to allow food systems to become a marginal focus of regional economic development, despite its major influence on its livelihoods, and is humbled to work with those who have ensured this remains emphasized.
Why I love limes: My favorite food is limes, given their versatility of use across many people’s cultures (from pho to my own people’s tacos). They remind me that sometimes you must be a little acidic to bring balance.
